The Sun's Maelstrom
by NatsuLucyLover
Summary: FemNaru. Adult Arcobaleno. Reborn was trouble that much Naru knew when she first encountered the man but she didn't realise how much trouble he was until she finally caught the man shooting her student on the forehead. She wasn't going to leave her student alone with that man even if it meant she had to fight off her friend's attempts of bringing her back home.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** I notice there wasn't any fic about an Adult Reborn and a female Naruto so I decided to create one so please tell me what you think.

* * *

If there was one teacher Tsuna knew he could always count on his back, it was Uzumaki Naru.

Out of all the teachers in the school, only Uzumaki-san never called him Dame-Tsuna and always scolded the students that bullied him, giving them lectures about how in the real world he could be the one to boss them around and not the other way. Everyone in their class knew that would never happen, he knew it would never happen but whenever his sensei said that, he couldn't help but think that maybe she was right. That was why he never tried to skip math lessons with her. It didn't help she really was pretty and was just so young to be a teacher.

Still Uzumaki Naru was a complete mystery to everyone in their school, no to their whole town.

No one in the school knew her age but everyone guessed she had to be around her early twenties because no way a thirty year old woman could look as young as she did right? No one in the school knew where she was before she came to Namimori Middle School or even her own history. Some people say she used to be a part of the Yakuza while other people say that she came to this school to avoid a powerful man that wanted her. A few people even say she wasn't human but a fairy, though Tsuna highly doubt the last bit.

He sighed as he placed his stuff into his bag. It didn't matter though, he thought to himself, because no matter how nice his sensei was she wasn't enough for him to want to stay in school with the knowledge that Kyoko was going out with someone else. It was stupid of him to be upset since he never asked her out but to know she was dating his bully was breaking his heart. Surely, his sensei would be okay with him not being in school after all he was usually in school most of the time.

"Tsuna, where do you think you're going?" He blinked, twisted his body around and squealed at the sight of his sensei standing right behind him with her hands crossed. "Last time I check, school isn't over...and you have a lesson right now don't you?"

He didn't answer her, flickering his eyes at his bag and then to her before fixing his eyes at his books. He didn't want to see her expression, didn't want her to give her those looks that everyone else always gave him. It wasn't bad when everyone else gave it to him, he had accepted it but for some reason whenever this sensei gave him the disappointed look, he felt compelled to do what she want.

She sighed. "Was I this bad when I was kid? Tsuna, come to my office."

"How much trouble am I in?"

"I'll decide how much trouble you're in when you tell me why you're trying to skip school," she retorted, grabbing him by the arm as she led him to his office, "You think I'm one of those teachers who will scold you for skipping school? I was a student once and I know people skip lessons for a lot of reasons, some of them can be a good reason. So tell me yours and I'll see if you get a detention or worse."

"You u-used to skip school?"

His sensei laughed. "Of course I did, do you think I'm an angel or something?"

He flushed red, shyly nodded his head and watched as his sensei smiled gently at him. It was the first time his sensei ever gave a gentle smile. Most of the time the blond-haired woman would just give them a big smile, showing everyone her teeth. This smile, Tsuna decided, he liked more than her big smiles because it somehow screamed more warmth to him.

"You're the first person I know who actually thought I was an angel," she opened the door to the office and gestured for him to take a seat in front of him, "I wasn't an angel in school if you asked my teacher, I was one of his worst troublemakers. He used to search for me whenever I skipped lessons and when he did find me, he would drag me by the ear and scold me for being an idiot for skipping lessons."

"Y-You don't look like a troublemaker."

"Look underneath the underneath," his sensei said, opening a can of biscuits. She offered him the big chocolate chip cookie. He took one and nibble at it, wondering how his sensei knew just what he liked. "One of my teachers told me that when I was young. Anyways, this isn't about me...this is about you. Why were you trying to skip school, Tsuna?"

"You'll think I'm stupid."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Let me decide that, now why were you trying to skip school?"

"It was because of the girl I like."

"Sasagawa-san right?" He blinked his eyes at his sensei, who had a smile on her face. "Even the most oblivious idiot can tell that you like her. So what did she do to make you want to skip school? Not even my best friend who liked her husband for a really long time would have done what you did and she was just like you...so what happened?"

He licked his dried lips. "She's dating Mochida-senpai. I-I can't go to school if she's dating him."

Only this teacher made him want to confess these things to her, Tsuna thought, crossing his hands together as he waited for his sensei to scold him for it. She gave him a sad smile, glanced at the photo in her table but made no attempts to say anything immediately to him. He was glad for that. Tsuna allowed his eyes to wander around the room, noting how the room was filled with more scrolls than books and how there were few pictures decorating her office. The only picture that stood out to him was the picture of his sensei with a pink-haired girl, a dark-haired boy and a silver-haired man.

"Did you tell her how you feel about her?" He hesitated and shook his head. "Then you've no right to feel upset about her dating someone else. Despite what people think, girls aren't mind readers. We don't know what a man feels about us without them telling us. If you asked her out then maybe she wouldn't go out with Mochida. Even if she said no, it'll be her lost because you Tsuna are the type of a boy any girl with common sense date. You know when you get older, you'll find a girl that's better than Sasagawa, so that's why you should never let her be the reason for you coming to school...trust me when I say that it'll hurt you more in the long run."

"Sensei, did you used to go to school because of a boy?"

She smiled and laughed. "Do I look like the kind of a woman who would go to school because of a guy? I was the girl who could care less about what a guy thinks of her...no I went to school because I wanted to be somebody."

"But you're teacher."

"Who says I'm not somebody?" His teacher asked, taking a bite of the cookie. "Maybe I became a teacher because I like teaching kids like you or maybe I'm trying to get away from something."

"T-Those rumors were true?"

"What rumors?"

He hesitated. "Uzumaki-sensei, people say that you came here because a powerful man wanted you."

"No, I didn't come here because of a man," she answered, taking another nibble of her cookie. "But maybe I'm trying to get away from something. If you get straight A's in your Math Test, I'll tell you the real reason why I came to this town."

"...You're never going to tell me are you?"

She grinned. "I know you can get straight A's in your Math test, after all you're one of my best students."

His heart warmed at her words. Perhaps, he was an idiot for trying to skip school for a girl and going home to his mother, who would never ever say as many nice things as this sensei did. He nodded his head furiously at her, gave her a small bow before rushing off to his last lesson of the day. If this sensei of his believe in him then he wanted to know why this nice woman came to their school instead of doing something more worthwhile.

Not once did he notice that a dark-haired man was watching him.

* * *

Releasing her hair from her hair tie, Naru relaxed her shoulders as she grabbed her bag from under the table and grabbed the bunch of test papers from the students. Her hands hovered when she caught sight of the picture of her old team. Had it really been nearly four years since she left home? She should go back home soon but she didn't feel ready just yet to confront her friends. Besides, she still send them letters and it seemed like everyone was fine over there.

She smiled and hummed a small tune to herself as she walked out of the gates of the school. Maybe she would go back home when Tsuna was fine. Out of all the students she had taught, she felt the most connection with the nervous boy. When he was able to graduate from school, Naru decided she would go back home and reconnect with her friends. After all, she needed to visit the godson that Hinata had given birth to and god knew Shikamaru needed help in confessing his love to Temari.

She was broken out of her thoughts when she found herself colliding with something hard. Rubbing her forehead, Naru blinked her eyes at the sight of a tall man standing in front of her. He wasn't from around here, she thought, gazing at the man's orange band fedora's hat. She had been here for nearly four years now and not once had she ever met a man with his hat or those curly sideburns.

"Sorry about that," she said, pushing herself off the man. He nodded and kneeled down to the ground, where the piles of test papers were thrown carelessly down to the ground. She groaned. Why must it happen today of all days? This was the one day where she didn't have to overlook activities or have any lessons in the afternoon. She just wanted to go to the apartment for once and relax before making her way through the piles of paper. God, she wanted to apologize to her sensei for not being the best student to him.

"So which subject do you teach?"

She blinked. "Maths...and how do you know I was a teacher?"

He just smirked, flickered his eyes at the test paper as if to tell her that was how he knew...and oh god did she feel more like an idiot for not realizing that. Right, think before you talk. She told herself, stuffing the test papers into her bags. She didn't want anyone else to think she was an idiot, kami knew she already had her old teammates thinking she was an idiot. Now, she didn't want a stranger to think she was one too.

"How long have you been working here?"

"Nearly four years now," she answered him as he handed her the final test paper to her, "Next month will be my fourth year that I taught in this school. So what brings you here near the end of the school day?"

He shrugged. "I was here for a walk."

 _Liar,_ her mind whispered to her as she stared into his amused dark eyes, _he wasn't here for walk_. He also certainly didn't look like he was here for a walk after all how many people she knew took binoculars in their walks? It certainly was worrying especially since her own experience with her own teachers made her think that anyone with binoculars was doing 'research'. Thank god, she could use her own imagination instead of doing 'research' like that perverted Ero-sennin did.

"What kind of a walk must you do for you to carry binoculars?" she asked, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "I don't take you as the kind of guy who does bird watching."

"Maybe I'm that type of guy you know what they say, never judge a book by its cover," he said, placing his binoculars into his pockets. "And I don't pick you as a woman who is meant for teaching, Uzumaki Naru."

She blinked, opened her mouth before closing it as the man brushed her off, leaving her alone in the streets as the school bell rang to signal the end of the school day. How did he know her name? Licking her dried lips, she placed her hand into her pockets, while her other hand hesitantly touched the headband wrapped around her waist. The man knew, she thought to herself, taking in deep breaths as she walked towards her apartment complex.

The man must have some idea about her other job.

* * *

His student's math teacher, Reborn decided as he entered his student's house, had to be one of the most interesting woman he had the pleasure of observing. She looked relatively harmless with her short stature and big blue eyes but he knew from the tones in her arm's muscle as well as from her weariness, the woman wasn't some civilian woman. It made him interested to know what a woman like her was doing working in a school like Namimori and not out there doing another kind of job.

He stopped walking when he reached the top of the stairs, where the sounds of his new student and his mother's voices could be heard. Placing his hands into his pockets, Reborn slip into his student's room, where he could clearly see piles of manga were thrown carelessly in the ground.

"A HOME TUTOR?" His student yelled. "Kaa-chan, I'm doing alright in Math."

"And I'm proud of you but there's more to school then Math," his mother said, holding out his math paper which had a doddle of said math teacher. "But you've to pick up on your subjects! You need to do well in your other subjects too. I'm not saying you've to go to a good school but it would nice for you to have just as good as grades as you do for Math."

"And you thought to hire a home tutor?"

"Yes," the woman answered, waving his flyer at him. "There was an interesting flyer was in our guy in the flyer claimed he would raise any kid to be the new leader of the next generation and the best part Tsun-kun? He doesn't care about grades or subject. His name is Reborn."

The boy eyed the flyer with weariness. "It smells like a scam."

 _Not dumb,_ Reborn thought to himself, leaning against the wall. He didn't look slow, a little bit clumsy maybe and from the piles of manga in the room, he could tell the boy was a slacker. That wasn't any good but he could fix that. It wouldn't do any good to anyone if it turned out the boss of the Vongola family was a slacker. No one would take him seriously nor would anyone take his tutoring seriously. Perhaps, after trying the dying will bullet on the boy, he would force the boy to tidy his room.

God knew he wasn't going to stay in a pig sty for the next couple of years.

"He's probably a tutor from a professional business school for young man," The boy's mother clapped her hands together in excitement as she continued to babble, "I've always wanted a teacher like that for you."

"Don't create your own image of him," Tsuna snapped. "And I don't need a tutor. Besides Math, I'm not good in anything that I do."

That was his signal for him to make his presence known.

"Chaos," he stepped between the mother and son, surveying the nervous boy and then to the posters around the wall before finally looking at the shelf, where he could see a clear lack of picture of friends. He knew from watching the boy for the past three hours, the boy didn't have any friends but this confirmed it. That explained why he didn't have any problems talking to his math teacher. "I arrived three hours early but as a service, I'll evaluate you now."

"Who are you?" The woman, Nana, asked, staring up at him.

He let his lips curled into a smirk. "Me? I'm Reborn, the home tutor."

His smirk widened when the woman clapped her hands, looked up and down at him before proclaiming to her son about how he was exactly how she thought he would be. Would she still say those things if she knew his real occupation? Looking at the oblivious smile on her face, he doubt the woman would really care. It was a wonder how a woman like her married a man like Iemitsu without figuring the truth so far. It's reasons like those, he tried to avoid dating woman like Iemitsu's wife.

Nana seemed like a wonderful woman, too good for Iemitsu, but either way she was too naïve for his taste.

Tsuna just stared, looking at his hat and then to his face, before bursting out in laughter. "I don't know what I can learn from you...you don't look that much older then me."

Reborn's eyes twitched at his words. Not much older then him? It was true he was still stuck looking like he was in his early twenties but he did know a hell lot moree things. Also didn't anyone taught the boy to respect his elders? Guess that was just one more thing he needed to teach him. With that thought in his mind, he kicked the boy in the stomach and watched as he slumped down to the ground.

Iemitsu and Nono never told him he couldn't hit the boy...and he needed a release for his pent up anger.

"Well we're going to get started."

* * *

"How the hell did I forget to stock up on food?" Naru asked herself as she tied the headband around her forehead. She finished marking all those papers, with the help of her clones of course, when she decided to cook her favorite food only to find there was nothing in the fridge. Had it really been a week since she last stock up on food? Maybe she should follow her student's advice and just put a reminder on her phone about going to the grocery store more often.

"You gotta be kidding me! You're actually following me! I thought you already ate," A familiar voice yelled.

Naru blinked her eyes when she caught sight of her student walking in front of the same man that was in front of the school earlier. How did he know this man? Oh god, don't tell her that this man was his father? No, he looked too young to be a father to a twelve year old. He looked like he was nearly the same age to her, maybe a year or two older but still too young to be a father.

Maybe, they were brothers.

"Uzumaki-sensei, why are you here?" Tsuna asked when he finally noticed her.

She shrugged. "I was going to the grocery store. What about you? And what did that man do for you to yell at him?"

"What makes you think I did anything to him?"The man asked, giving her a smirk.

"Because Tsuna never yells," she answered, rolling her eyes at him. "And it sounded like you're bullying the kid for food when you already ate."

"Sensei..."

"Don't give me that look kid," Naru said, ruffling the boy's hair. "I thought I always told you to smile."

"Y-You did," Tsuna stuttered.

She frowned at his flushed face, glanced at the man, who just looked at her and then to Tsuna with amusement. What the hell was so funny? Her student's face was just as red as a tomato. What if he was sick with a fever? Didn't his mother check on her son before he left the house? She might need to go and check on his mother to see if everything was fine. It wasn't easy for the woman to try and take care of a household by herself without any help.

She shook her head and frowned when Tsuna slumped his shoulders at her. She raised her eyebrow when the younger boy turned his body to the next corner, squeaked and rush towards the other corner of the street. Scratching her head, Naru glanced at the man, who looked just as confused as her. She glanced at her student and gestured for him to come out but he furiously shook his head at her.

Was she as bad as Tsuna when she was a kid?

"Uzumaki-sensei!" Naru blinked and smiled when Kyoko rushed towards her with a big smile on her face. "I didn't know you lived around here."

"I don't but the best grocery store for my needs is just around the corner," she explained and frowned when she caught sight of her student wearing her school uniform. "Why are you still in uniform? It's six now."

"Mochida-senpai said he needed to talk to me about a couple of things for the council," Kyoko answered, giving her a small smile. The young girl blinked her eyes when she caught sight of Reborn standing beside her and oh god, why did she have a bad feeling about the twinkle in her eyes? "Are you on a date, sensei? Is that why he is dressed so nicely?"

Yup, she was right to have a bad feeling.

"No!" She scowled at the idea of having a man like Reborn as her boyfriend while said man just looked deeply amused at what the girl had just said. "I just met the man Kyoko-chan. Besides, can you imagine a woman like me dating a man that looks prettier than me?"

She laughed and nodded. "You'll look good together sensei."

"We'll look good together," The man said, earning a scowl from her, "But I wear a suit because I'm a part of the Mafia."

As soon as he finished saying that, Kyoko waved her goodbyes and ran off before she could protest against the idea of her being with the creepy man beside her. What the hell was this generation thinking? She and this man? It was like saying she was going to go out on a date with Kakashi-sensei, looks like a good idea but in reality it would be a horrible idea. Besides, she doesn't deal with civilian men especially after the war and where did she hear about the Mafia?

Maybe, she should ask Sasuke about it since he seemed to know more about these things then her.

"Mafia seduction," the man said, snapping her from her train of thought as Tsuna stepped out of his hiding spot.

"What does that mean?" Tsuna asked.

Naru rolled her eyes. "It didn't seem to work on me."

"You're still here aren't you?" the man pointed out, giving her a smirk. "And you aren't that irritated."

"Maybe it's because I'm concern for my student and not because of you," she retorted. "I'm worried about what's going to happen to Tsuna if he spends anymore time with you."

The man ignored her and stared at the young boy, who just gazed at the two of them in curiosity. "You've a crush on the girl don't you?"

And she would take that as her signal to leave.

When two males started to talk about their love life, Naru knew she needed to get out of here.

* * *

A/N: Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I want to thank everyone who reviewed as well as to everyone who added this story to their favourites and follows.**

* * *

Something wasn't right.

That was the first thing that came into Naru's mind when she entered the quiet classroom. It was a Friday, and her students were too noisy. Not the noise like they were talking about plans for the weekend or gossiping about movie stars and idols. She wished it was that noise. No, this noise was the noise she knew all too well from her experience with her own teacher. It was the noise that told her someone in the class did something so stupid that everyone have the urge to embarrass him. This used to be her after giving the wrong answer for an easy question or when she got into the trouble for something stupid.

Knowing this class, it was probably the latter.

Crossing her arms, she took in a deep breath and stared at her students. "So who is in trouble ?"

"What makes you think that someone got into trouble?" One of her students asked, flickering his eyes at Tsuna, who withered in his seat.

"It's a Friday morning and all of you are snickering," she pointed out to them as she opened the textbook. "The only time you guys are like this then someone did something that got them in trouble. Now, tell me what happened?"

"No one did anything to get into trouble," One of student claimed. Naru would have believed the boy if it weren't for the fact he was pale and fidgety. Interesting. If she was like the other teachers, who didn't give a damn about their students, she would believe him. Unfortunately for them, she cared for them and of their wellbeing. Especially this bunch of kids since they were the ones that reminded her the most of her school life.

"How stupid do you think I am?" Naru asked them, taking a seat on the table. "We've been together for a couple of weeks now so I expect you guys to know by now I give a damn about your well being. Now if someone is in trouble or being bullied," she narrowed her eyes at the boys in the front row, who gulped at her, "I want to know so I can figure out a solution. Now what happened for all of you guys to be so quiet this morning?"

"But Uzumaki-sensei, it doesn't concern you."

"The moment someone in this school gets into trouble it concerns me so tell me," None of them answered her, which just made Naru want to sigh at them. Right, it was time to bring out the big guns then, she thought to herself, allowing a little bit of her killer intent to leak out of her. "It's alright if you don't tell me but I've my ways of finding out the truth and I promise you when I find out what happened, _no one in this room is safe_."

All of them gulped, paled and glanced at each other before looking back at her. Did they all seriously think she was always going to be the fun teacher? To be fair to them, they still haven't seen her on her bad day and only knew her for two months now. It was not enough time for them to see her angry. Only one student was able to make her angry and that was the president of the Disciplinary Committee. That boy attends her lessons and always stayed back to try to make her fight him.

No way was she going to fight a boy who barely seen war.

"D-Dame-Tsuna confessed to Sasagawara-san in his underwear," A student finally spoke out, flickering his eyes away from her. "M-Mochida-senpai asked him to fight during lunch time."

She blinked, furrowed her eyebrows and glanced at Tsuna. The said boy just gulped and slithered down his seat until all she could see was the top of his head. She frowned and looked at the girl in question. The orange-haired girl just flushed red, looking uncomfortable at the attention that everyone was giving her but otherwise didn't seemed to be too bothered. If it was anyone else, she could believe this was happening but it was Tsuna, Tsuna who admitted to her yesterday that he couldn't go to school because the girl he liked was dating someone that wasn't him.

How the hell was she suppose to believe this?

"First off! Don't call Tsuna Dame-Tsuna, the next time I hear someone calling Tsuna names, they'll have detention with Hibari. And why does Mochida want to fight Tsuna?" She asked them as she closed the textbook. "I believe the school rules specifically states that there isn't suppose to be a fight in school."

"He wants to defend Kyoko-chan's honour," One of the girl squealed, clapping her hands together. "He said he won't forgive the guy who made Kyoko-chan cry! Isn't that romantic sensei?"

Did she just really...?

Oh god, she was dealing with an idiot.

"No because what Mochida doing isn't defending Kyoko's honour, it's bullying," Naru answered seriously, taking in a deep breath. "I'll admit what Tsuna did is bad but they can talk instead of fighting for her."

"But he disrespected her," One of Kyoko's friends said.

She narrowed her eyes at the girl. "Disrespect? Tell me how is it disrespect? You think because he confessed in his underwear, it's disrespect. In my eyes, it shows that he likes her too much that he's willing to be embarrassed. Disrespect kids is if Tsuna ignores her feelings, disrespect is if he thinks that Kyoko is weak. A disrespectful man is a man who just doesn't listen to you and insults you. It's a man that cheats on you. Tell me has Tsuna did that to Kyoko?"

"N-No but he shouldn't have confessed to Kyoko in his underwear."

"And we'll have a talk about that," Naru reassured the girl before looking at Tsuna. "Tsuna, we'll have a talk about lunch about that behavior and I'll see what I can do about Mochida."

"Mochida-senpai should be allowed to defend Kyoko-chan," one of the girls spoke out.

Naru pursed her lips at them. "No, he shouldn't be allowed. If Sasagawa-san wants to be defended then she must be the one to defend herself and even then it must be after school."

"But sensei, why can't you allow them to fight?"

"Because fighting is never the answer for everything," she answered, giving them a smile. "Fighting doesn't fix anything if anything it makes things worse. Besides, tell me do you think Tsuna is a boy that is capable of confessing his love in his underwear?"

Everyone glanced at the nervous boy then to her before hesistantly shaking their heads at her. She smiled at them, glad that the classmates were slowly starting to see some sense but it would take her a long time before those students of hers learnt the meaning of seeing the truth. A couple of them would probably never see the truth while a few of them would live in denial but that was their choice. They would come to regret it later when something terrible happens due to their ignorance.

Until then, she would try to steer them to the right path.

"Good to see we come to agreement that Tsuna isn't someone capable of confessing his love in his underwear but now is the time for us to go back to do doing some wonderful maths," she said brightly, flipping open the books. "Oh as punishment, you guys are going to do all the exercises from pg 40-48 as homework."

"Sensei that isn't fair."

"Life isn't fair," she called out to her students. "This is so you guys will do well in my test next month and for not defending your classmate from Mochida. Remember the class that sticks together is the class that will survive."

"But sensei..."

'"I'll make from pg 40-50, if you dare argue with me," the student shut his mouth immediately, making Naru smile widely at him. "Now turn to pages 36 and 37 of your textbook."

Oh how she loved being a teacher, only she was allowed to do this to them and not get into any trouble for it.

* * *

It felt like it was a regular occurrence for him to be in his sensei's office, Tsuna thought to himself as he heard his sensei called out for him to enter her office. How did his sensei knew he was here? He couldn't help but asked himself as he opened the door to reveal his sensei eating instant ramen in her table.

Uzumaki-sensei smiled widely at him, put down her instant ramen on the table and gestured for him to take the seat right in front of her. He hesitated, glanced at the windows and nearly squealed when he saw his tutor sitting in the branches. Shaking his head, he looked at his sensei and then back to the window, where he no longer caught sight of his tutor. It must have been his imagination, he thought to himself, taking a seat in front of his surprisingly calm teacher.

He just hoped she was going to stay calm when she heard his side of the story because his sensei now certainly didn't seem like a woman he wanted to anger.

"So what happened for you to confess to Sasagawa-san like that?" His sensei asked, leaning against her seat. "Please tell me there was a good reason for you being in your underwear when you confessed your feelings to her."

What could he tell her? If he told her that his tutor shot him in the forehead with a bullet that apparently made him confess his feelings due to it being his last regret before he died, she would think he was crazy. He still thought Reborn was crazy even though he experienced the effects of the bullet. Maybe he could tell her, he had been sick and delusional when it happened? No, no, his sensei would know. She had a sixth sense when it came to liars. Only this sensei was able to tell when Mori-san was lying and no other teacher was able to do it.

Great, he couldn't think of anything.

"Y'know this can take all break time I don't mind waiting," Uzumaki-sensei informed him, picking up her streaming bowl of instant ramen. "But you know the more time it takes for you to tell me, the less time there is for me to help you but I guess if you don't want me to help you then take your time."

"Help me?"

"It's too late for me to stop the fight but I was able to make it possible for you to do the fight afterschool," Uzumaki-sensei scowled, "The principle said that he couldn't stop the fight even if he wanted too because apparently someone powerful wants to see this fight but he did allow me to make sure the fight was after school. However, it doesn't mean I can't teach you on how to defend yourself."

"Y-You're going to teach me how to defend myself?"

"Maybe," he slumped his shoulders at her, earning a laugh from his sensei. "Well I can't teach you until I know the whole backstory about what caused you to do something as reckless as that. Not even the craziest fangirls in my schooldays would do that and they were insane when it came to the boys they liked."

"Y-You don't think I'm a pervert?"

"Nope," his sensei smiled, "I know a pervert when I see them and you, my cute student, aren't a pervert."

He wanted to cry in relief at hearing her words. If he wasn't afraid of having the hot water hitting his body, he would hug her so tight and cry on her shoulder. Finally, finally, someone who actually believed that he wasn't a pervert. After Math lesson, Nezu-sensei had given him a dirty look for doing what he did, giving everyone a rant about how one person in the male species gave other males a bad name. If he had wanted to hide in Uzumaki-sensei's lessons, he wanted to die in Nezu-sensei's lesson.

"So the story please Tsuna?"

If he wanted some form of help from his sensei, he was going to confess about everything that happened that day. So he told her about how his mum hired Reborn to boost up his grades, about how he wanted to get something to eat but only to find the tutor following him. He then talked about how they ran into her, which she told him to skip, before telling her about how the man placed a gun against his forehead, telling him that he was ready and how he should die. He nearly cried as he explained to her about how he thought he was joking about the gun and how he didn't see any point of dying (his sensei had a sympathetic look on his face as he said this and he had to wonder how she could understand) when Reborn told him he would understand once he died and then he died.

His sensei's face went blank when he admitted this, which was weird. He expected her to laugh at him and telling him that he had to be joking about the bullet after he told her this but her expression was just blank.

"A bullet? Your mum hired this man and didn't even check what his job was before?" His sensei rubbed her forehead. "If he shot you on the forehead then how did you survive? The chances of a person surviving a bullet in the head is low. Damn, if Sakura knew about this she would want to examine you."

"S-Sakura?"

"A friend of mine," she smiled widely at him, "She's one of the best doctors I know. These type of things are her speciality."

"Oh, alright."

"Now back to the story, how did you survive the bullet and what made you confess to Sasagawa-san?"

Licking his clapped lips, Tsuna continued on with the story as he explained about how he felt himself being regenerated and how his last regrets before he died was not confessing his feelings towards Kyoko. The more he talked about it, the more hysterical he became while his sensei became more and more stony faced. He finally finished when he told her how he confessed to the girl without even realizing he came back to life without his shirt and pants.

Uzumaki-sensei took a deep breath. "Y'know if I was anyone else, this isn't a story that they would believe but I've seen a lot of crazy things in my life...and what you just told me was the least crazy thing I ever heard."

Tsuna opened his mouth to ask her what was more insane then what he said but decided against it. He still wanted some sense of sanity thank you very much and hearing a more insane story wouldn't help him in keeping it.

"Right, you're going to come here everyday after school for lessons."

"W-What!"

"I'm teaching you how to defend yourself," His sensei said firmly, "No way in hell am I allowing you to be beaten up by Mochida or anyone else."

"B-But I can't fight."

"You can," she said firmly, "Everyone is capable of fighting."

"But Uzumaki-sensei..."

"You should listen to your teacher," Tsuna jumped out of his seat and yelled at the sight of his sadistic tutor standing in front of the door with his back against the wall. He flickered his eyes at his sensei, who kept a fixed smile on her face but there was something in her eyes that just told him that he should run while he can. "She was kind of enough to get the principle to make Mochida do the fight after school and she's even offering to teach you how to fight."

"I wouldn't need to do it if you hadn't tried to kill him," His sensei hissed, "What the hell were you thinking? What if he had no regrets when he died? Tsuna would have died because of you."

Reborn tilted his hat at her. "The boy wouldn't have confessed his feelings in any situation and would always have regrets about not confessing to his crush until the day of died."

"So you knew he wouldn't die."

"Maybe," Tsuna didn't like how casual the man was being about talking about his death to his sensei nor did he like the way Uzumaki-sensei's eyes were narrowing at the man. "Maybe I didn't know, it's up to you to decide on what you think I knew."

"Alright," Uzumaki-sensei said with a furious look in her eyes, "So you're letting me to decide on what I think about the reason why you did it. Ok, let's get into the next bit of this then you didn't think to give the boy some clothes when he confessed!"

"He was too fast for me."

"Too fast for you? Liar," Uzumaki-sensei snarled and was it Tsuna or did it feel like the room was becoming hot? Maybe he should start leaving but he really wanted to see the man get scolded for his actions. "From what Tsuna told me, you're a hitman. Hitmans need to be fast for their job and for you not to be fast isn't right. Now tell me how the hell are you going to fix this problem you put him in?"

"I'm not going to fix his problem."

"And why not?"

"Dame-Tsuna needs to man up and fix his own problems."

"I would agree if he was the reason why this all happened but none of this would happen if you didn't shoot the boy," his teacher snapped, rubbing her forehead. "I can't make you fight Mochida because you're a grown-man and I can't force a grown-man to do this. Besides people will think if you or me fight for Tsuna then he needs an adult to defend him."

Reborn smirked at her but Uzumaki-sensei just glared at the man. "You're a bastard...what is his name Tsuna?"

"Reborn."

"You're a bastard Reborn," his sensei repeated, rubbing her forehead, "Thanks to you, Tsuna is going to have to fight Mochida after school. I should make you teach him how to fight during lunch but you aren't going to be any help."

"Sensei..."

"When this fight is over I'm going to make you pay for this," his sensei vowed-her tone was filled with so much malice that Tsuna was surprised he was still standing. In just one day, Tsuna was starting to see how his sensei wasn't just some friendly, nice woman but a woman that was so terrifying that he could see why people thought his sensei was once a part of the Yakuza. This woman wasn't scared of talking back to Reborn about what he was doing to him. She wasn't afraid to tell the man that he was insane.

"And how are you going to make me pay for it?" Reborn asked, dropping his voice at his sensei. "You want me to _destress_ you because I can do that with pleasure if you want."

Was Reborn...

Oh great, he was listening to the two flirting.

Uzumaki-sensei smirked and shook her head. "Nice try bastard! My idea of you paying for this is for you to pay for my dinner and Tsuna's."

"And if I don't?"

His sensei leaned closer to Reborn. "If you don't then I'll find a way to make you regret it."

There was a look on Reborn's face that Tsuna couldn't read but he did know one thing, he had a feeling that the arguments between those two were just starting.

* * *

The more time he spent with Uzumaki Naru, the more curious Reborn got of the young woman. She wasn't some pushover like some women he knew nor was she easily flustered. The fact she ordered his student to come to her lunchtime to be taught how to fight made him curious about how did a young woman like her knew how to fight. He knew she must have some training but not once did he ever consider that a woman, who looked as fragile as her would know how to fight.

Don't judge a book by its cover must have been applied to Uzumaki Naru, he decided, taking a seat on his usual spot on the tree as he watched Naru lead Tsuna towards the most hidden part of the school. Everything about her was a contradiction and a puzzle. The moment he thought he had her, she proved him wrong. He thought from her clothes, from the fact she got flustered from the question that Tsuna's crush asked that the woman was uptight. The fact she quickly denied it made him think no one ever flirted with the woman.

Though the one thing she proved to him it was the fact she was not some meek woman.

Definitely not meek, he thought to himself, remembering the fire in her eyes when he told her that he had an idea on what might happen. For a woman, who was supposed to be a civilian, she didn't have any problem of telling him her opinions. Many woman who knew he owned a gun either run away from him or looked very interested in him but not enough interest to tell him off. It was refreshing, he mused to himself, allowing his eyes to wander to the young woman.

She stood there with her arms crossed against her chest, looking patient as Tsuna tried to go into a fighting position. Too many openings in his stance. A kick on his left foot would make him topple over. It wouldn't be too hard for him to punch the boy in his stomach with how far his hands were from each other. The moment the boy tried to fight, the battle would be lost. How could this woman teach this boy in a matter of forty minutes? The most the woman would need was a few days to teach him. A hour of teaching him wouldn't be enough.

"Terrible," The blond-haired woman said to his student with a frown on her face, "Who on earth taught you this?"

"N-No one but isn't this how it works in T.V?"

Scratch the idea his student wasn't an idiot, he was a big idiot.

"If life was like T.V then the heroine always gets the guy," The woman chirped but Reborn didn't miss the sadness in her eyes, "But that's not true because the heroine never always get the guy and the same goes for the hero. The hero gets killed from doing something stupid. Do you know how stupid this pose is? Do you know how many openings you left?"

"T-Three?"

"You wish," she wrinkled her nose at the boy, "Probably around ten or eleven openings. If you were quick on your feet or flexible then it won't be a problem but I've seen you in P.E kiddo and you ain't any of that."

His student flushed bright red. Embarrassment, Reborn thought to himself, but he wasn't going to deny the woman's words. If he did then the files Iemitsu gave him would be wrong but nothing the man had given him was a lie, well the only exception being math. Tsuna, he remembered from the files, had very little self-confidence, didn't feel comfortable with new people and hated anything to do with sports.

"T-Then maybe I shouldn't learn self-defence."

"Everyone should learn how to defend themselves," Uzumaki said sharply, "You think just because you're slow that you shouldn't learn! Or because you lack flexibility you shouldn't learn how to fight? You train for these things. Besides, there are other ways for you to fight."

"L-Like how?"

"Fight dirty," Reborn quirked his lips at her words, "You think because you're slow that it's a bad thing? Make it something good. If you're slow then think on your feet about how to bring Mochida to his knees. I knew a guy who had to fight another guy that was a speed demon but he somehow was able to defeat him."

"How?"

"He fought dirty," The woman smiled, "He fights even dirtier now but not in the same way like we did as kids."

"D-Did you fight him sensei?"

"Yup but I barely defeated him," she leaned against her foot, "The only reason why I beat him because I thought on my feet."

"B-But what if I can't think on my feet? And isn't fighting dirty a bad idea?"

"Everyone thinks on their feet when they fight and I know you Tsuna, you can think on your feet or how else were you able to make up so many creative excuses on not coming to school?" Reborn straightened his back at hearing this, "Do you think I didn't know some of the excuses you had for school weren't true? I got eyes everywhere so I knew on the days when you weren't in school, you were playing video games in that arcade of yours. Besides, you think Mochida won't fight dirty with you?"

"He's a senpai."

"Lesson number one in the real world Tsuna, no one plays fair," The young woman said seriously, "You of all people know that school isn't like a home to all kids. For kids like you, what is school? School is a battlefield and in a battlefield, no one fights fair...those that do, they die."

Anger and bitterness, Reborn mused to himself, staring at the woman's darken blue eyes. What happened for her to be so angry? There had been no wars as far as he was concerned in the world but this young woman looked like she knew what she was talking about. In fact, everything she said was true. In every war he had seen, the people who played fair and fought with morals were the ones to die. The ones who fought by getting their hands dirtied were the ones to win, they always win.

"B-But how can I fight dirty?"

"And that's where I come in," Uzumaki answered. "You're going to fight me."

"W-What? But you're a woman."

"So because I'm a woman you won't fight me? Wrong answer," Uzumaki snapped. "Tell me Tsuna, you don't think a woman is dangerous? Women can be even more dangerous than men. One look from a woman and a man would forget reason. When a man forget reason is when a women strikes and kill a man. One taste from a women's cooking and you could die because she placed poison. Men aren't known for these things since they think it's a feminine way to kill. Remember this, a woman's best weapon is her body and her words."

Definitely not a civilian, Reborn mused to himself, curling his lips into a smirk as the young woman charged towards his student. Tsuna tried to duck but the young woman slammed her fist against his chest. The way she flexed her muscles and the concern in her eyes told him she was holding back on the boy. It was still powerful but not powerful enough for the boy to break any bones, he thought to himself, pressing his hands into his pockets.

The young woman narrowed her eyes and barked for his student to stand up before rushing towards the boy again. The same thing happened again, only except this time it was worse. Instead of trying to block the punch, his student just stood there and accepted the punch. Posture told him he thought he accepted the fact he couldn't beat his teacher, which told him he would never be able to fight Mochida. It was fine though for Reborn because at this rate, his student would have regrets before he died.

If things kept going the way it was, Reborn was going to use the dying bullet on the boy.

* * *

Naru knew just knew even after all the times she tried to get the boy to duck, there was no way he could beat Mochida. It was just like her to think she could get the boy to learn how to fight after one hour of training but the stupid headmaster could only let the fight be postponed to after school. He even only agreed to postpone the damn fight after she managed to get some blackmail on the man. If she hadn't done that then there was no way in hell he would have tried to postpone the fight.

She shook her head and opened her drawer, revealing the piles of opened letters her friends sent her. There were so many letters of sadness, of pleading her to come back home and stories of the things she missed since she left home but no matter how much her heart ache for Konoha, she couldn't find it in herself to go back home for good. What was there for her? Sasuke was still in his journey. Sakura was too busy with the hospital and Kakashi-sensei was Hokage. Hinata and Kiba were already married with a daughter while Ino was dating Sai. Gaara was in Sunagakure, Neji and Tenten had their own life to live. Lee was too busy opening his dojo and Shikamaru was the messenger between Suna and Konoha. None of them could be there for her when she was still reeling in from the lost.

But she couldn't run away from the village forever and one day, she knew Kakashi-sensei would have no choice but to call her back for duty.

"So this is your office, I expect it to have more pictures," Reborn said, giving her a smirk as she slammed her drawers shut. "You're not going to watch Tsuna fight?"

"After I finish packing my stuff," She looked back at her drawer and shook her head before shoving the pile of math homework that her third-year students gave her, "And aren't you going to watch the fight? You're the one who got him into this mess."

"If I didn't know any better, I'll think you want me to be there," Reborn said with that twinkle in his eyes that just made her want to wring his neck, "But to answer your question, I'm just waiting."

"Waiting? What the hell are you waiting for?"

"A hitman never tells."

She frowned at this. "You're using that as an excuse? You're the one who got him in this mess, the least you could do is help Tsuna. He wouldn't even have confessed to Kyoko if it wasn't for you."

"You prefer he didn't confess to her."

"It's none of my business who my students likes," she said firmly, "It only becomes my business if it affects his work. I told him to forget about her because there are other girls out there for him who might be better than her."

"And you think a boy like Tsuna will listen?"

"No," she admitted, slumping her shoulders. "I love the boy, I really do and if I was younger, I might fall for him because of how cute he is but I can see how much he likes her. He likes her but I know him and I know her, the girl is just like his mother...and I'm afraid if the two have a relationship then it would be toxic for them."

"Toxic?"

"You met Tsuna's mother right? She's a nice woman, a really nice woman but she doesn't ever complain about the fact her husband isn't there for her," Naru took in a deep breath, "And I respect that but doesn't she try to call him and ask him to see the boy? Whenever I try to get her to talk about Tsuna's home life, she would talk about it for a few minutes until his father's come up, where she could go on and on about him."

"You don't respect the man do you?"

"A man that doesn't come home to his family isn't a man worth respecting," She answered bitterly, remembering her own experience with her deceased father. "A man who puts other people before his family while honorable makes them a terrible father because their kid won't always be coming first."

"Was that your father?"

Naru narrowed her eyes but kept her mouth shut. The more time she spent with the man, more she felt like she was with Sasuke again. Just like Sasuke, this man made her revert back being her childhood self, where she never had a filter and said things that no one should ever know. The arguments she had with her best friend were either due to him being an asshole or because she didn't have a filter in her mouth. It was a miracle they didn't have another argument when she stopped him to give him back his headband or how he didn't say anything when she scolded him for hurting Sakura's feelings like that.

It went unsaid about her feelings towards his actions.

"How's Kyoko being like Tsuna's mother toxic in your opinion?"

"Because the boy is trying to find someone to be like his mother," she answered, taking a seat. "And he doesn't really know her or really loves her. What he has is puppy love. Kyoko is a great girl but she isn't perfect for him. Tsuna needs someone who can defend him from the bullies, who won't give a damn about what people thinks of him and Kyoko isn't that girl."

"You given it a lot of thought even though you aren't his mother."

Naru quirked her lips. "Because I'm a teacher and the best teachers from my experiences, are those that act like parents. I spend more time with some kids then even their own parents did and I wouldn't be where I'm today if one teacher had even bother to get to know me...and you're trying to distract me about Tsuna's fight!"

"Took you long enough to figure out," He said, putting his hands in his pockets and giving her one last look before heading towards the door. "And Uzumaki...if you're trying to hide your past, you should start by not easily giving away that you know how to fight. Some men might be put off if they tried to date you."

"Then maybe I'm not looking for those kind of men, maybe I want a guy who could challenge me."

He quirked his lips, raised his eyebrow at before shrugging his shoulder. "Oh? I'll want to hear more about that when I pay for your dinner in a couple of days time."

"I thought I told you today!"

"Nope, you told me to pay for your and Tsuna's dinner today," She slapped her forehead, "And I'll pay for his food today as I agreed but I'll pay for your dinner in a couple of days time."

Naru gave a couple of curses under her breath while the dark-haired man gave her a smirk that could just rival her best-friend's smirk in terms of being annoying. She should have given more thought on wording her payment because it seemed like without knowing it, she was allowing herself to be alone with this man for at least a good hour. Damn it. Damn that man for looking for a loophole and using it to his advantage.

She was going to make him pay for this.

But she would figure out how to pay him back for this after she see Tsuna's match.

If only she knew by the time she got to the match that the fight was over or that the reason Tsuna won his match was because Reborn shot him with the dying will bullet but she would only see Mochida knocked out unconscious with Tsuna wearing a pair of clothes that Reborn had stolen for him.

* * *

 **Q &A:**

 **Q: Is Sasuke a traitor?**  
 **A:** No, this takes place after the war and almost everything follows cannon with the exception being that Sasuke and Naru still have both their arms. Sasuke is still on his journey of redemption and has already been pardoned for all his crimes as well as Neji being alive.

* * *

A/N: Thank you for reading and please review.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I want to thank everyone who added this story to their favourites and follows as well as to people who reviewed the last chapter.**

* * *

"Are you going to tell me how the hell you got my number?" Naru asked Reborn as the two of them walked towards her favourite resturant in this town. He smirked but made no attempts to answer her question. She scrowled and crossed her arms. "Seriously, Reborn tell me how did you get my number? I nearly got a heart attack when I saw your phone number!"

"I'm a hitman," he said dryly, pushing his hands into his pockets. "It isn't too hard for me to get your number from the school records."

"You got my number from my files!" She yelled. "Are you insane? If you wanted my number, you could have asked Tsuna."

"Surprisingly when it comes to you, he wouldn't ever tell me the number," He answered, curling his lips. "For someone who is suppose to be a coward, the boy was quite brave and firm in telling me no even when I told him my reasons for wanting the number."

"You didn't do anything to the kid, did you?"

He shrugged his shoulder, which made the blonde groaned at his answer. She wished her student's mother didn't hire the man because at this rate, Tsuna was going to die either by this man or from embarrassment. God, what a terrible way would it be if her sweet student died from embarrassment. No one deserved to die that way...well maybe Obitio. She may have forgiven the deceased man but it didn't change the fact, his actions led to her becoming an orphan.

"If I did something to Tsuna, he would only have a couple of bruises," Reborn answered, twisting his body around to look at her. She pursed her lips together and raised her eyebrows at him. "Alright, he would have a couple of broken bones but he won't die. I won't have a job if he is dead."

"Y'know you're a tutor right? Hurting your student isn't part of the job description," She pointed out as the two of them resumed making their way towards her favourite resturant.

"And you haven't hurt any of your students before?" She shook her head, causing the man to smirk. "So I imagined you fighting the Head of Disciplinary Committe during lunch then?"

She blinked her eyes at him. "You were watching me fight Hibari? I knew I should have told the brat to wait till after school for the fight. That isn't the point! What I do with Hibari is different from what you're doing with Tsuna."

"How so?"

"Hibari asks me to fight him. He doesn't take no for an answer," she sighed. "If I didn't fight him, the bastard wouldn't even try to come to my lessons."

"So he's blackmailing you."

"Blackmailing implies he has power over me," Naru pointed out as he opened the door for her. "Hibari may have power over most of the students in the school and even most of the teachers, but he doesn't have any power when it comes to me. He can't exactly make me do his bidding since he knows I can beat him."

He smiled at her words but this smile wasn't like the others, this one seemed a little bit more real then the ones he usually gave. It was strange, Naru mused as she took the menu from the waiter, she had never seen him smile like that. Then again, she did her best to avoid the foregin man. For all she knew, he gave such smiles to Tsuna.

"If you don't mind me asking Uzumaki, why did you decide to become a teacher? And why Namimori of all places?" Reborn asked her as she skimmed through the menu. Naru looked up from the menu and raised her eyebrows at him. "I think I made it quite clear I know you aren't a normal woman. I know from the way you talk and the way you hold yourself, you know how to fight."

"I'm not going to deny it," Naru said, putting the menu down. "I do know how to fight but I don't know why you should care why I came to this town or my decision to become a teacher."

"I just find it interesting," Reborn informed her, fixing his dark eyes at her blue eyes. "When I first saw you, I didn't imagine a woman like you would be a teacher."

"Because I don't look that smart?"

He smirked. "No, because you don't hold yourself as a teacher. You look like a woman who _commands_ people and hates sitting behind the desk. I bet you like being on top."

Why oh why did she think having dinner with the guy was his punishment? Naru couldn't help but ask herself as she hid her face behind the menu. Instead of her trying to grill him for his actions, it seemed like the guy was trying to hit on her. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact he was also interrogating her as well as discussing about her private life in public. If she thought Reborn was like Sasuke, this proved more then anything he wasn't anything like her teammate.

Sasuke would be too stiff to say anything like that.

She pursed her lips and clenched her hands into a fist at the thought of her teammate before mentally shaking her head. This wasn't the time to think about the bastard. He was in his journey to find redemption, she reminded herself, he wasn't ever going to come back home to her. No, she thought, he would go home to Sakura because he liked the pink-haired woman more then her.

"If you want me to tell you," she leaned closer to him and gave him a smirk that would have made her raven-haired teammate proud, "Then you'll have to persuade me tell you."

"Are you issuing me a challenge?" He asked her.

"Take it as you wish."

"Then a challenge it is," Reborn said as the waiter came to them. "Just don't regret it when you spill everything to me."

"You're too cocky for your own good."

"Uzumaki, a hitman should have confidence on himself."

A hitman shouldn't have a big head, Naru wanted to tell him but she decided to keep it to herself. The more they talk, the more time she would spend with him and that was the last thing she wanted. God, this was the worse idea she ever had. Maybe it would have been better to demand a fight, at least she could punch him in a face and not worry about people looking at her like a freak. Yup, next time Reborn did something dangerous to her student, Naru was going to demand for a fight.

For Reborn sake, she hoped he didn't do anything to hurt her student.

* * *

When Naru went to school the next day, she was surprised to see a silver-haired boy standing in front of her table with the principle beside him. Did something happen that she didn't know about? No, she was thinking too much about it. This boy might be a new student in her homeroom but wouldn't the damn principle tell her a day beforehand if there was a new student? If it turned out this boy was her student, Naru was going to rip the man apart for not telling her earlier. Hibari wasn't the only scary person in this school.

"Uzumaki-san, I would like you to meet Gokudera Hayato, he's going to be in your homeroom class," The principle said, gesturing to the boy beside him. "He transferred from Italy, you see...and well it was quite a surprise for us to know he wanted to study in our school."

"Gokudera? That isn't an Italian name," Naru commented, staring at the silver-haired boy.

"My mother was Japanese," He answered cutly, glaring at her.

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Boy, if you think you can scare the crap out of me then I've seen cats that looks scarier then you."

He grunted at her words while the principle shook his head at her. Naru narrowed her eyes at him, earning a pale look from the man who she was forced to work under. Shaking her head, she pushed herself out of the table, grabbed the textbooks needed for her class, and made her way out of the door. Pausing mid-way, Naru twisted her body around and gestured for the silver-haired boy to follow her.

The boy scowled but did as she asked.

"So Gokudera, mind telling me why you decided to transfer here?" Naru asked, pressing one of her hands into her pockets as the two of them walked down staires.

"It's none of your business."

"It kinda is," Naru said dryly, causing the male to look at her in surprise. "I like knowing my student's situation and a boy as young as you shouldn't be here if your father is a foreginer. We rarely have foreginers coming to the town...the ones that do, well they cause too much trouble."

"I'm not here to cause trouble."

"I'm not saying you're going to cause trouble," she pointed out to him. "And if you did cause trouble, you and me...we'll have a long good chat about it because the last thing I can tolerate is trouble...well the bad kind. If it's the good kind, well I can turn the other way."

"Most teachers won't say anything."

"Gokudera, you'll find I'm not like other teachers," Naru declared, giving him a smile as the two of them reached the corridor leading towards their classroom. "If you think I'll turn a blind eye to your actions or to your home life then kiddo, you pick the wrong school. Which reminds me...who are you staying with? And if you lie to me, I'll know."

"I live with my guardian," He answered, looking at her straight in the eye.

Naru flickered her eyes at his clothes, then to his hands before looking at his eyes, where she could see the haunting loneliness in his eyes. It was a loneliness only a person who lived in the streets would know. She sighed. "Y'know kids that live alone or in the streets, they know how to recognise each other. Tell me Gokudera, how long have you been living by yourself?"

"And why does it matter to you if I live by myself or how long I have been by myself?"

"As a teacher, it shouldn't be my concern unless it is affecting your schoolwork," she admitted, stopping midway. "But as a person who has lived by herself for most of her life, I know how hard it can be to live by yourself and how hard it can be to meet rent. If you find it impossible to keep up with your school work because of your worries about rent, you tell me and I'll see if I can fix it. I might also pop in to check if you eat properly because no matter how tasty instant ramen is, it isn't the best meal to have everyday."

With those words, Naru slid the classroom door open and gestured for him to stand outside. Giving her a scowl, the silver-haired boy nodded. Naru smiled at the sight of her students sitting in their tables, whispering about the lastest gossip or anything else that students these days talked about. God, it had been too long since she had been a student if she didn't remember what she used to talk about with her own fellow classmates.

As the students chatted, Naru took the time to observe her students. Tsuna was sitting by himself as usual but there were no bags under his eyes, which must be a sign either Reborn decided to lessen his torture on the poor boy or Reborn was planning something that would be so much worse then sleepless nights. Knowing her student's tutor, the man probably was up to something.

"Good morning, Uzumaki-sensei!" One of her students called out to her when they realized she was standing in front of the blackboard. Glancing at the clock, her student gave her a small frown. "Uzumaki-sensei, you're really early this time."

"Good morning," Naru said, smiling at them. "And yes, I'm early to class but that's because I've an annoucement for everyone here."

Everyone stopped chatting as soon as she said announcement. Putting their seats back to their usual tables, the students gazed at her with such alert eyes that Naru couldn't help but wonder why they couldn't give her these looks whenever she taught them. To be fair on the brats, math wasn't fun no matter how hard she tried to make it fun for them. Honestly, it was a miracle she liked math more then all the other civlian subjects she was forced to learn in the Academy.

"What's the announcement Uzumaki-sensei?" One of the students asked, looking so eager. "Are you finally dating someone? I heard from my older brother's friend that he caught you on a date with a foreginer."

Oh why were her female students so interested in her love life? Didn't they have their own love life to be concerned about? And shouldn't they be more concern about their studies? One of these days, she would need to call all the female students into the hall and give them a talk about priorities.

"No, I'm not dating anyone and even if I was dating someone, this wouldn't be any of your business," she informed them, earning a groan from the students. "Anyways, your older brother's friend must have mistaken me for someone else because I certainly didn't went out on a date with a foreginer."

"But you had dinner with one."

"Yes."

"Is he trying to take you away from the school?" The student asked, making a face.

"No and even if he did, nothing he would have said would have convinced me to part from this school," she declared, giving them a grin. In the corner of her eye, she noticed the said man was leaning against the tree, giving her a look that just made her want to hurl a kunai at him. Why the hell did Tsuna's mother hire such an annoying man? Why couldn't she hire a harmless, nice man?

"Anyways, we need to get back to the topic at hand, my announcment that is related to school and not to do with my own personal life," Naru declared, earning groans from the students. "Don't make that sound, no matter how much you try to convince me I won't tell you about my personal love life. Now back to the topic at hand, we've got a new transfer student."

That brought back the eager looks on their face.

Nodding her head, Naru made her way towards the door and called out for Gokudera to enter. The silver-haired boy grunted and entered the classroom with his hands in his pockets. This boy was going to be a pain in the ass, Naru mused to herself as she stood behind him. He wasn't going to be as bad as Hibari, nobody was as bad as that boy but he was still going to cause her trouble.

"Everybody, this is Gokudera Hayato," Naru said, keeping a straight face as the girls swoon over the boy. "He has been studying in Italy until recently as such I expect you guys to make him feel at home."

Almost all the girls nodded their head eagerly at her while the boys stared wearily at the silver-haired boy, probably realizing their chances of getting a girlfriend was dwindling because of the boy. She grimaced when she heard the girls whisper about starting a fanclub for the boy. Why oh why whenever a schoolgirl saw cute boys, they decide to make a fanclub? Now she had to make sure the boy wasn't being harrassed by them.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she realized the silver-haired boy was stalking off to Tsuna, who was nowhere near his seat. What the hell was happening? Those two haven't met have they? Naru couldn't help but ask herself as the boy kicked Tsuna's seat. No, she would know if Tsuna had made enemies outside of school. Her clones would tell her if there was something unusual happening to the boy…

Something wasn't right.

"Gokudera, we're going to have a talk during break about what you did," Naru said softly, trying to keep her tone even. "Now since you kicked Tsuna's table, help him and go to your actual seat, which is right beside Takashi."

He grunted at her but didn't do what she said. Naru narrowed her eyes at him and leaked out her killer-intent, causing the silver-haired boy to gulp. She smiled widely when the boy glared at her as he helped Tsuna with his table. If he thought she was going to let him go to his seat without helping his fellow student then the boy had another thing coming.

Naru Uzumaki would not tolerate having any of her students being bullied.

* * *

"Why don't you look so irritated Uzumaki, is it because you didn't see me today?" Reborn asked her as she took a sip of her favourite orange soda.

"Actually my day would be better if you didn't decide to come to my office and annoy the crap out of me with your presence," Naru retorted, putting her orange soda right beside the marked papers of the third year students. He smirked at her response but made no attempts of leaving her alone in the offce, where she could hopefully try to calm herself down before searching for that troublesome student of hers.

"Now, now Uzumaki if you say that I would actually think you don't like our little banters."

"I don't like them," Naru growled, glaring at them. "I also don't like the fact you keep coming to my office during my free time. If the students sees you here with me, they're going to jump to conclusion on who you are."

"You make it seem like it is bad thing," she narrowed her eyes at him, "Why should it matter what your students thinks about us? We know the truth and that's all that matters."

Naru curled her lips at his words. "It doesn't matter we know the truth, I'll have to deal with my students questioning about my love life!"

"It must be frustrating having students care about the love life you never had."

"Yes...wait a second, what makes you think my love life doesn't exist! For all you know, I might be dating someone."

He stared at the orange soda and looked at her eyes. He flickered his eyes at the rare pictures of her teammates and friends before gazing at the rare picture she had of her parents; one of the few picture Kakashi had of them being together. It had been hard for her to get Kakashi to part with one of the pictures and only gave her that picture when she pointed out she had nothing to remember of them.

Shaking his head, Reborn said, "If you were dating someone, you would have their photo in here. You have pictures of your friends, maybe a fellow colleague and boss but I don't see any pictures of you remotely close to holding anyone...though I can see in one of the pictures, how much you care for the boy with the duckass hairstyle."

Did he just say Sasuke had a hairstyle like a duck's ass?

Oh god, why didn't she use that as a nickname for the bastard when they were kids?

"Okay, I'm not dating anyone," Naru agreed. "But it doesn't mean it never existed."

Giving her a large smile, the man leaned forward till he was just a few inches away from her. He was so close that Naru was afraid if she moved from her spot, she might knock over her juice all over the papers she marked since she might accidentally hit her head against his sharp chin. Taking a deep breath, she gazed at his dark eyes, hoping her gaze would be enough to prove to him that she had been in relationships.

She didn't want a complete stranger figuring out she had never been on a date in her whole life.

"You've never been even properly kissed have you?" He declared, stepping away from her. "Which is a surprise, I mean a pretty woman like you must have had men chasing after you."

"What makes you say that! I've been kissed before Reborn!"

"There's a difference between being kissed and being properly kissed," he said dryly, smirking. "A proper kiss is one that makes your knees wobble, one that brings out the passion that a small woman like you have. A kiss is one that is just a peck on your lips."

Gulping down the lump that formed in her throat, Naru stared at the dark-haired male and wondered how the two of them went from talking about her love life to whether or not she had been properly kissed. Taking a couple of deep breaths, the blonde stared at the cocky black-haired male and then to the photos of her old team, wishing not for the first time to have her friends here so she could rant about the male to them when she saw them later.

"Even just a simple kiss could do that to a person...if they love each other."

He raised his eyebrow. "But love won't mean anything in a kiss if there's no tension."

"Love can make people's knees wobbly," Naru said firmly, staring at the pictures of her smiling parents. "Being in love can make people act strangly...make them do these things that aren't consider normal. I don't think you would understand Reborn...after all you have never been in a proper relationship haven't you?"

"What makes you say that?"

"I just have a feeling you've never really loved someone to the point where you would do anything for them."

"And you have?"

"Nope," she admitted. "I loved someone but I would never consider going to the extents my friend did...I have my limits."

He raised an eyebrow at her but didn't dare voice out his question, which was the one smart thing that the bastard had done so far. If Reborn had asked her what her limits were or the extent to which Sakura had went, Naru would have flat out told him it was none of his business. Honestly, the fact she hadn't slammed her fist against his head was an indication on how uncomfortable she was with the topic they were discussing.

"Y'know Uzumaki, if you want to experience a date you know where I'll be," Reborn said, walking towards the door. "It would be my pleasure to teach you what it is like for a pretty girl like yourself to be fond over."

"Who says I want to experience a date with you?" She retorted. "Or that I like the idea of being fond over?"

He tilted his head at her. "You might not want to experience a date with me but I know every woman likes the knowledge there is a man who cares about her and compliments her. If you didn't like the idea, I'll say you're one unusual woman."

Naru blinked her eyes and watched as the young man left her office. This had been one of the most unusual conversations she ever had with the man but also the closest thing she might ever have as a civil conversation with him. It would have been more civil if they hadn't ended up talking about her personal life or if he had given her a warning that he was going to pop into her office during break.

Hopefully, none of the students saw a man coming out of her office.

* * *

It had been quite easy to distract Uzumaki from finding Gokudera, Reborn thought to himself as he made his way to where Tsuna was supposed to have his confrontation with Gokudera. He had expected it to be harder but then again they had been talking about the one topic he knew would fluster the woman: her non-existent love life. The woman acted like she had been with men before but Reborn knew how to find an inexperience woman and Naru Uzumaki was a beautiful woman, who never even had a man try to ask her out.

It was quite surprising if you asked him.

Woman like Naru Uzumaki usually had men dying to ask her out, especially one with her exotic looks. The whisker marks on her cheeks make it seem like she was an animal, just waiting to be realeased on some unexpecting guy. If she had fox ears, well the woman would be almost every man's dream come alive. Despite all of this, not once has a man ever ask the woman out on a date or tried to hit on her.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the sound of his student screeching like a little girl. That was the wonderful signal he needed to know Gokudera had decided to start testing the boy, which would hopefully mean if things went according to plan then all Reborn had to do was just shoot the bullet.

Reborn shook his head when he saw his brown-haired student was lying on the ground, looking ready to die as Gokudera threw a dynamite to him. Pulling out his gun, he shot the dynamites away from the boy. It wouldn't look good on him if his student died before he had the chance to prove himself. Also Uzumaki might figure out he had something to do it and the last thing he needed was to hear the woman yell at him for what happened.

Never be said Uzumaki Naru didn't have a loud voice.

"Chaos," He said, drawing the two boys' attention to him.

"R-Reborn!" Tsuna cried.

Reborn ignored the boy and stared at the silver-haired boy, noticing the boy looked a lot more thinner then the pictures Bianchi had sent him but then again the boy had been living in the streets since he was eight. The streets weren't a kind place, especially for children like Gokudera .It was only just recently the boy came to work for the Vongola family.

"You came earlier then I expected Gokudera Hayato," he admitted, leaning against the wall.

Tsuna glanced at him and then to Gokudera before raising his eyebrows. "Huh? You guys know each other?"

"Yes, he's a member of the family I called over from Italy," Reborn answered, placing his feet against the wall.

His student gulped. "So he's in the mafia?"

Nodding his head, Reborn continued on. "Though this is the first time I'm meeting him."

"So you're Nono highly trusted assassin," Gokudera said, gazing at him. "Reborn."

Reborn nodded his head and stared at his student, who gazed at the silver-haired boy with wide eyes. So his student never consider he was that powerful did he? That was a pity but it was expected after all the young boy only saw a man who looked like he was in his early twenties. He curled his lips. How would his student react if he knew his beloved math teacher could kill people? He would probably deny it since the woman didn't look like she could kill someone.

"You're not joking about me becoming a candidate as the successor if I kill Sawada?" Gokudera asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Yeah that's right," He informed him, putting his hand into his pocket. "Well let's continue with the killing."

Tsuna squeaked. "Kiling me...what are you talking about, you're joking right?"

"I'm serious."

"What? No...no way," the brown-haired boy stuttered, before pointing at him. "You're betraying me, Reborn? You mean everything until now was a lie?"

This student of his still had so much to learn about looking through people's word.

"That's wrong," Reborn said, grabbing his gun from his hostler and pointing it at the young boy. "I'm telling you to fight."

His student paled. "W-What? Fi...Fight? With the transfer student?"

Reborn nodded and watched in amusement as his student ran away from said transfer student, probably looking for a safe-heaven to hide from the boy, which would most likely Uzumaki's office. It was a safe bet for him to presume the blue-eyed woman was the most beloved teacher for any student who was being bullied, after all the woman made it quite clear she hated to see her students being bullied.

His student cried when Gokudera appeared right in front of him. Observing them, Reborn decided he needed to teach Tsuna on how to run faster. Maybe he should start shooting the boy whenever he didn't want to do laps. No, maybe he should get a mechanical cheetah and set it on the boy. Yes, it would be more likely to work if the boy had to deal with that. Maybe, he would set it during the time when the boy had to get to school.

"What the hell is happening! Is that explosions!"

Damn, he thought he made Uzumaki forget about Gokudera.

"Uzumaki-sensei!" Tsuna cried, looking at the furious blond as if she was his saviour. "This isn't Gokudera's fault, Reborn told him if he killed me then he can have a future position…forget what I said!"

"Reborn, you say?" The blonde said quietly as the boy nodded his head while the silver-haired boy looked at her with irritation. "Mind explaining why Reborn? If I find the reason acceptable, which i doubt I will, I won't try to punch you in the damn face but if I deem it unacceptable then I'm going to punch you."

"If I say it is part of his training, would you find it acceptable?"

"No."

"Well the boy needs to learn how to fight."

"So you thought putting him in a life or death situation was the best idea? Reborn, you train the boy, not put him in a situation where he could die!" She yelled as the two boys gave him a look that said you were in trouble now. "Give me one good reason on why the hell I shouldn't stop this! If anything were to happen to them, how the hell would I live with myself? How the hell would I explain it to their parents? You want me to go to Tsuna's mum and tell her your son died because the damn tutor you didn't bother to check put him in a situation where he could die. Gokudera, while he might live by himself, is a kid that deserves to live his life to his fullest without going to jail."

"Uzumaki-sensei…"

"If he wish to survive in the real world, he needs to learn danger," He pointed out. "He's not going to be a child forever."

Taking a deep breath, Uzumaki clenched her hand into a fist and before he could even blink his eyes, the blond slammed her fist against his cheek. He fell down to the ground. Rubbing his bruised cheeks, Reborn gazed up at the furious blond. That was a powerful punch, so powerful he was surprised he hadn't been sent flying to the gates. Damn, this woman had to be one of the strongest woman he had ever met which was saying something for him.

"That's for putting Tsuna in danger," Uzumaki said coldly, "I would do much worse if I didn't know you had a point."

"Sensei, you're going to let him kill me!"

"Don't worry Tsuna, if you die...I'll kill Reborn," Uzumaki promised, giving him a cold smile. "Isn't that right Reborn?"

That was the day Reborn learnt never to piss off Uzumaki Naru and also the day his respect for her grew a little bit higher.

* * *

 **A/N: To answers a reviewer's question about whether or not Naru loves Sasuke, well she did spent a long time trying to bring him back home and had a history with him that made it hard for her not to think she loves him. As to whether Naru is stronger then Reborn, well yes she is because chakra is stronger then dying will flames. As to another reviewer's question about whether or not Naru will fight her village? Well that you have to wait and see.**

 **Also please tell me what you think so far about the relationship between Reborn and Naru.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter as well as to everyone who added this story to their favorites and follows.**

* * *

It was rare for Naru to visit her student's homes but until Gokudera came, none of her students were living in an apartment with no guardian to take care of themselves. With the exception of Gokudera, all her students in her homeroom had parents who could take care of their basic needs. They didn't often need her checking up on them and despite what the other teachers say, she knew from experience it was worth checking on students who lived by themselves and see if they were doing all right. It didn't matter they have permission to live by themselves, what matter in her opinion was whether or not they were doing alright.

So this was why she was clutching her students' address in her right hand as she leaned against her foot and rang his apartment door bell. Naru didn't know much about Gokudera but maybe if she came to his apartment, she would understand her student better and see how she could help him. She could have asked Reborn about Gokudera since he seemed to know her student well but it meant spending time with him and Naru didn't want to spend any more time with him.

"Uzumaki," Gokudera said coldly, blinking his eyes at her. "Why are you here? Wait a second...you can't just barge into my apartment without permission! Uzumaki!"

Naru rolled her eyes at the silver-haired boy and strode into the apartment, ignoring the boy yells of not giving her permission to come inside. Wasn't it cute how he thought she gave a damn about his feelings of her being here? She sighed, narrowed her eyes as she noticed the piles of clothes that were flung in his apartment and the steaming bowl of instant ramen on his kitchen counter.

Doesn't this remind her of her own childhood?

"You may live by yourself Gokudera but it doesn't mean you can leave your apartment in a mess," Naru said firmly, crossing her arms at her student as she gestured to his boxers on the floor. "If I don't see it clean up in the next five seconds, I'm going to drag you by the ear and make you admit to everyone you have a smelly apartment."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Try me brat," Naru said, narrowing her eyes. "You might live alone but I'm your sensei and one of my jobs is to make sure you're alright! This dirty apartment makes me think that either you're a slob or you have no idea on how to really live by yourself! Secondly, do you know how to cook? Because from what I can see from your trash can and even the counter that you've been just eating instant ramen."

"Why does it matter if I know how to cook!"

"Because you can't keep spending your money on instant ramen," Naru said, pursing her lips. "Even though you don't show it brat, I know you're smart and you know very well that spending money on instant ramen every day is actually making you spend more money than buying from a grocery store. Now tell me...do you know how to cook or not?"

"What will you do to me if I don't know how to cook? Are you going to laugh at me because of it?" He sneered.

"No, I'll think that it's time someone taught you how to cook," Naru answered calmly. "Y'know I didn't know how to cook until I was eleven years old and that was only because I ran out of money one day from the amount of ramen I ate. I love ramen but I didn't realize just how much money it cost to buy it every meal until that day."

"Why were you living by yourself at a young age?"

"Because no one wanted to take me in," Naru answered, walking towards his fridge. "I was kicked out of an orphanage as soon as they thought I was ready to live in the big bad world...I was six. After that, an old man found me living in the streets and decided he would give me money until I finished school and get a job. He found me an apartment too and always reminded me about my rent so I didn't have to go back to the streets. Look I don't know your family life and if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine but I'm going to make sure you're going to be healthy as long as you're under my watch."

The silver-haired boy looked at her in shock but he quickly gave her a glare, reminding Naru of a small little cat trying to fool people into thinking it was dangerous. She didn't know what type of life the boy lived until now but the way he stared at her as if she was suspicious for even caring about his well-being told her he grew up in a household where no one really cared about him. She might be wrong since he might had people caring about his well-being, which meant he always looked like that.

"Leave me alone," Gokudera finally said. " I can live by myself just fine."

Naru pursed her lips. "I know you do but you'll be more likely to get sick if you kept eating instant ramen like this or even the convenient store food. It might annoy you to see me taking an interest in your life but becoming sick very often will make you a liability to your boss. Besides, girls like a man who can cook."

The silver-haired boy flushed red at her words. "W-What? Why are you saying these things? You're a pervert."

"You gotta be kidding me, I'm not telling you to hook up with a girl," Naru said, rolling her eyes. "But I'm telling you that if you want girls to like you then learn how to cook...and it's very good life-saving skill, which will you need if you plan to spend all your time with Tsuna-kun and that stupid tutor of his. Kami, what the hell his mother was thinking hiring a hitman as a tutor?"

"Tsuna is going to become Juudaime of the Vongola Famiglia," Gokudera said, leaning against the wall. "It's only natural that they would send Reborn to tutor Tsuna since Reborn is the best tutor for young bosses."

"Vongola Familiga? I'm guessing that's a part of the Mafia right?" Naru asked, walking towards the kitchen. "Y'know I don't know much about the Mafia but I do know they won't have a boss if Reborn keeps doing the things he's doing. Seriously, what the hell was he thinking in letting you use explosions in schools? If I hadn't known how to cover up the sounds, you woulda been expelled which would have been fine for me on that day but now you've been in school for two weeks now, I don't want to see you expelled."

"Why does it matter to you if I get expelled?" Gokudera sneered. "You're not my parent."

"Thank god, I'm not your parent or else I would slap you for what you did and demand you stop smoking," Naru said, opening the fridge. "Y'know why it matters to me if you get expelled? Because you're the first person I saw who actually looks at Tsuna as if he was the most important person in the world. You're the only kid I know who is willing to protect him and for that reason alone, I don't want you expelled."

"You're the first teacher I saw who actually cares about Juudaime," Gokudera said as she furrowed her eyebrows at the distinct lack of food in his fridge.

"Why wouldn't I care for Tsuna? He's my precious student," Naru said, pressing her hands into her pockets as she looked down at the messy papers. "And despite what people say about that boy, I know he has potential and the only thing stopping him from reaching that potential is himself and the people around him. I think you know that too, don't you Gokudera?"

He stared at her for a good couple of seconds before stiffly nodding his head at her. The boy might look like a delinquent, Naru thought to herself as she picked up a piece of paper which had a complicated math equation, but he was smart. It would do Tsuna some good to be around this boy, she thought as she placed the piece of paper on the table, he needed to learn to see through people's outward appearance.

"After school tomorrow, you and me are going to grocery store to get food," Naru finally said, "And after that I'm going to teach you how to cook and Gokudera, if I come into this apartment and find it not spotless then I'm going to drag Tsuna here and let him see how messy you are. Got it?"

"And if I say no?"

"Then I say too bad because this is an order," Naru declared.

He grunted but made no attempts to tell her he wasn't going to listen to her but that was fine for Naru. It would be a long time before her student would be close to her but this was the first step of so many. She would be patient with the boy because it wouldn't be long before he would consider her as someone he could talk to for help.

Yes, she didn't mind.

* * *

"Why are you in school so early in the morning? And why are you here during lessons? Don't you have anything else to do when Tsuna is in lessons?" Uzumaki asked him as he walked into her office with his hands in his pockets. He just gave her a smirk and sat down on the chair in front of her while the woman gave him an irritated look as she waited for him to answer her question. It was very easy to irritate her, Reborn thought, watching as the pretty blond-haired woman sighed. "Seriously Reborn, why are you here?"

"I'm bored," He said, shrugging his shoulder. "And since you're free, I was hoping you could get rid of my boredom."

"Y'know I got papers to mark right? And plans to make for the next lesson?" She asked him, crossing her arms over her chest. "So I'm sorry but I can't help you with your boredom."

"You can talk to me while you try to finish marking those papers," Reborn said, quirking his lips. "I'm certain you're very talented when it comes to multitasking."

Uzumaki smiled at his words and her blue eyes twinkled in amusement at his words. This was perhaps the first time he ever saw the woman give him a smile and she looked so much better with a smile on her face, instead of a scowl. It made her look more beautiful than her scowls, which was saying something since the woman also had a cute scowl.

"You should smile more often Uzumaki," Reborn said, causing the woman to raise her eyebrows at him. "You look prettier when you smile like this."

The blonde blinked her eyes at him before flushing red at his compliment. Uzumaki wasn't used to having people complimenting her looks, Reborn thought, watching as the woman focused on her student's test paper. It was strange for a woman like Uzumaki not to get complimented on her looks. Out of all the beautiful woman he knew and seen, Uzumaki was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

It made no sense how a woman like her had never been complimented before.

"Y'know I had an interesting talk with Gokudera yesterday," Uzumaki said, looking him straight in the eyes when her blush finally died down. "He said you're the best tutor for young bosses and he said Tsuna is going to become Juudaime for the Vongola Familiga...tell me why Tsuna? You saw the boy and you know as well as I do that he doesn't have the heart for someone in the Mafia. So why him? Why not someone else?"

Reborn stared long and hard at the young woman, who stared at him with curiosity and worry. Out of all his student's school teachers, only this woman seemed to care about the boy's well-being. It was perhaps, for this reason, his student had an attachment to the woman and had a crush on her that almost rivaled his crush for Kyoko. Although to be fair on his student, he knew most of the boys had some sort of crush on this young woman.

It made sense since she was the youngest teacher in the school.

"All the other potential candidates are dead," Reborn finally answered. "And since Tsuna has the blood of the Vongola's primo flowing in him, it made sense for him to become Juudaime."

"But he's only fourteen," Uzumaki said, pursing her lips. "Can't his father become Juudaime instead of him? He deserves to live his life before he gets burden with such a heavy duty."

"His father is already the head of another important organization in the Vongola Familiga," Reborn explained, rubbing his temple. "And the stupid man can't leave his job to take over the Vongola Familiga which leaves only Tsuna."

"Wait a second, his father is already a part of the Mafia?" Uzumaki asked, blinking her eyes. "But his mother told me he works on construction sites though I can never remember what exactly he works as since Nana goes on and on about the man. Does Nana know about this? Does Tsuna know about this?"

"No, they don't know about it especially Nana," Reborn answered, leaning against his chair. "Iemitsu gave me strict orders not to let his wife know about anything to do with the Mafia."

Uzumaki sighed and rubbed her temple. "There's something wrong about the man. He married someone and not tell them their real job! What the hell is he thinking? Doesn't he know what it means to be married? Honestly, if I find out my husband lied to me about his job then I'll kill the man."

"What if your husband lied to you because he wants to protect you?" Reborn asked her, tilting his hat. "I agree with you when you said he's an idiot but he lied to his wife to protect her."

"Protect her? That isn't protecting his wife and child if anything it puts them in more danger," Uzumaki yelled, stomping her foot. "What if Tsuna had been kidnapped when he was young because his father made enemies who wanted to hurt him! Tsuna doesn't know how to protect himself! If he told his wife and Tsuna about his job then maybe Tsuna would understand the importance of protecting himself! And Nana, sweet kami, doesn't he know his wife is an airhead? She could have allowed someone dangerous into the house which meant she could have been killed! If I see that man, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind..."

Quirking his lips upwards, Reborn continued to listen as the blonde rant about the ways she was going to make the blond-haired man learn a lesson. If it had been any other woman, he would tell them they didn't have a chance but Reborn knew from her punch, this woman could make Iemitsu pay for his stupidity. She might not look like it but Uzumaki had a mean punch.

Her punch was so strong that it nearly made him fly towards the wall.

The woman only stopped her ranting when someone knocked at the door. Blinking her eyes, Uzumaki closed her mouth and gestured for him to hide but Reborn just shook his head and gestured for her to open the door. She scowled at him but Reborn just shrugged his shoulders. She opened her mouth to argue with him but just shook her head and opened the door, revealing a scowling middle-aged man.

"Nezu-san, why are you here?" Uzumaki asked, raising her eyebrows as she gestured for the man to come in.

"Uzumaki-sensei, your students...who is this man right here?" Nezu asked, staring at him with raised eyebrows.

Uzumaki pursed her lips and stared at him for a good couple of seconds as if debating on whether or not, she should tell the man the truth or lie to him about who he was. Reborn would have told him he was Uzumaki's special friend but he rather not have Uzumaki punch him again for the second time in two weeks. As much as he loved angering the woman, he didn't want to be on the other side of her fist again.

"This is Reborn," Naru finally answered, looking at him as if she was daring for him to contradict her. "And he's a friend of mine who decided it was a good time to visit me during school hours."

Reborn nodded his head, tilting his hat at the man, which caused the middle-aged man to scowl at him. He just shrugged his shoulders while Uzumaki just rolled her eyes at him. The middle-aged man stared suspiciously at him, glancing at him and Uzumaki, no doubt jumping to conclusion on his real reason for being here. The man scowled, even more, glaring at him and Reborn wondered if the man truly thought he had a chance with Uzumaki.

Uzumaki would never date a weak man that much Reborn knew without a doubt.

"Now why are you here Nezu-san? If this is about Tsuna's terrible grades and why the hell he put more effort in my subject then I'll tell you again that Tsuna will do better in school, just give him time," Uzumaki said, putting her hands into her pockets.

Nezu scowled at him. "Your students just physically assaulted me!"

"Really now?" Uzumaki asked, trying her best not to look amused. "Which ones Nezu-san?"

"Gokudera and Sawada!" Nezu yelled. "Those two physically assaulted me when I was giving out the test results, which Dame-Tsuna did terrible in! Gokudera came to class in the middle of the lessons!"

Uzumaki stared at the teacher for a good couple of minutes before slowly saying, "I can believe Gokudera assaulting you but Tsuna? That boy doesn't know how to hurt someone. Heck, even Gokudera while bad-tempered wouldn't have tried hurting you unless you did something to provoke it so I see no point of doing anything."

Uzumaki knew her students well, Reborn thought, watching as the man grit his teeth at the young woman. Gokudera was bad tempered, a fact well known to everyone who met the boy, but he would never hurt a civilian on purpose unless provoked. The only thing which could provoke Gokudera in school was if someone talked bad about Tsuna, which the man must have done for his ex-girlfriend's brother to behave in this way.

"If you won't do anything about it then I'll take it up with the headmaster," Nezu said, sneering at her. "What kind of teacher are you for not taking any actions against those delinquents? You don't even deserve to be a teacher."

The blond-haired woman narrowed her eyes. "I don't deserve to be a teacher? Nezu, if anyone doesn't deserve to be a teacher then it's you! You've insulted Tsuna since the moment he came here, made my students in my homeroom class sick to their stomachs and don't even get me started on the way you scare the crap out of them. They came here to learn, not to be bullied by some adult!"

"In my experience as a man who comes from an elite university, students came here to take a test which determines their life," Nezu said, scowling at the woman. "And they won't pass their tests as long as they've a teacher who coddles them too much."

Reborn glanced at the blue-eyed girl, who gritted her teeth at the middle-aged man. It was remarkable how much the woman was holding back, he mused, watching as the blonde struggled to hold herself back from punching the arrogant man. Nezu had a point about how Uzumaki shouldn't be a teacher. She was a good teacher, he could not deny it, but Uzumaki was a leader.

Anyone with brains could see it so why would a woman like her work in a job like this?

"Go ahead and see the principle Nezu," Uzumaki snarled. "But I should tell you this, I'll make you regret the day you send them or insulting my duties as a teacher."

Nezu sneered at the blond before walking out of the door, no doubt going to the principle about the matter of Tsuna and Gokudera. The man could try to get rid of those two but Reborn wasn't going to let his student get kicked out of school because of that vile man or ever. It wouldn't do any good for his reputation nor would he hear the end of it from the ninth about letting the boy get kicked out of school.

Nodding his head, Reborn gazed at the blonde.

"They won't get kicked out of school," Reborn finally said, drawing the blonde's attention to him. "Now if you excuse me, I've a student to talk to and a conversation to overhear."

Uzumaki curled her lips at his words. "You go ahead and do that. I'm going to see if there's anything I can dig on that asshole...not a good teacher my ass, I'm the best teacher this damn school ever seen!"

"You're resorting to blackmail," Reborn asked.

"Blackmail? Me, never," Uzumaki answered, blue eyes twinkling with mirth. "I'm going to see if I can _convince_ the man to drop all his charges against Tsuna and Gokudera, if I just so happen to find any information he doesn't want people to know about then that's another thing entirely Reborn."

"You should leave everything to Tsuna," Reborn suggested, thinking of the ways in which this could be used to his advantage.

Uzumaki pursed her lips and stared at him for a good couple of seconds before reluctantly nodding her head. "I want to tell you no but I've a feeling you're going to ignore me so I say go ahead with whatever you're planning, but if I find out he has been expelled because of your actions...so help me Reborn, I'm going to end your life."

"And if it turns out because of my actions, he isn't expelled then how do you plan to reward me?" Reborn asked, leaning towards the woman.

The blonde tilted her head, gazed deeply into his eyes before saying, "You want a reward? Hmm, I guess I won't kill you if Tsuna and Gokudera aren't expelled."

"Now, now, Uzumaki that isn't what I consider a reward," he said, smirking down at the petite woman. "Now what'll be my reward for proving you wrong."

The blonde raised her eyebrows. "What do you want?"

"Dinner."

"Hell no," Uzumaki said firmly, crossing her arms. "You embarrassed me in that restaurant so there's no way I'm going out with you in public again, besides my students will see us together and jump to the conclusion about us dating."

"Who says we'll go out," Reborn said, causing the blonde to raise her eyebrows. "I come over to your apartment and you'll give me dinner, where we'll talk about the real reason on why a beautiful woman like yourself become a teacher. If anything else happens, well you won't see me complaining...in fact, I promise you that you'll _enjoy_ it."

Uzumaki scowled at him and it would have been frightening if it weren't for the fact her tan cheeks were flushed pink. He smirked.

"You're a pervert, Reborn," Uzumaki said, crossing her arms. "There's no way in hell I'll do that with you."

"I was talking about playing games Uzumaki, I don't know what was going on through your perverted little mind Uzumaki," he said innocently, causing the girl to flush even more red at his words. "Now if you excuse me, I shall see that student of mine and see what happened...you know if they aren't expelled then I'll see you in your apartment tomorrow."

With those words, he left her alone in her office and made his way towards his student.

* * *

Pressing her hands together, Naru gazed at her students during their study period. She was supposed to teach them math but with what was happening to Tsuna and Gokudera, the blonde couldn't bring herself to teach her students while she was worried for those two so she decided to let them use the time for studies. Though, she didn't mind if she saw her students talking to each other about their plans for the weekend instead of actually using it for their studies.

So she leaned against her chair and watched as her students interact with each other. Sasagawa was talking to Kurokawa about the latest fashions and cake though Naru didn't miss the worry in the girl's eyes or the fact she kept glancing out at the window. Yamamoto was talking to his friends about baseball, laughing and smiling as they talked about their favorite players but there was a sadness in his eyes, which told her more than anything that something wasn't right with the talented baseball player.

Should she ask the boy about what was wrong? But what if he didn't want to tell her? Yamamoto wasn't like Gokudera, who was easy to provoke into telling her what was wrong. The sweet boy in front of her would lie straight to her face about what was wrong with him but Naru didn't want to be seen as a terrible teacher for not confronting him about it. What would Iruka-sensei do? Her sensei would ask the boy if he was doing alright before taking him out for dinner.

Could she do the same thing with Yamamoto?

Well, she could but it couldn't be today. Today, she was going to go with Gokudera to the grocery store and get the food he needed in order to learn how to cook. No, maybe she could drag Yamamoto with her and see how the boy was doing but Gokudera wouldn't like that. It wouldn't matter to her if Gokudera didn't like it if it weren't for the fact she could tell that her silver-haired student had been rejected before.

"Uzumaki-sensei, do you think Gokudera-kun will be expelled?" One of her female students asked, snapping her from her train of thought. Naru blinked her eyes and stared at her female students, who had a light blush decorating her cheeks. "He wouldn't have been expelled if he hadn't been friends with Dame-Tsuna."

Naru pursed her lips and stared at them. "Will Gokudera and Tsuna be expelled? I don't know but I do know you shouldn't be calling your fellow classmate Dame. How many times have I told you not to call him that? I don't tolerate name calling."

"Sorry, Uzumaki-sensei," The girl said, flushing red as she looked down at her shoes.

Naru shook her head. "Y'know sometimes the people you bully in school are the people you'll end up working with in the future. In the real world, if you bully someone in a workplace then you've the potential of causing the company to go down or in some cases not get a job since that person you bullied is now the person, who could potentially hire you."

"Sawada will never get a high-ranking job," one of her male classmates said. "He isn't smart enough."

Naru pursed her lips. "You'll never know Sasaki, one day you might work under Tsuna."

Her students snorted at her words before returning his attention to his friends, who were now discussing the latest popular comic series. Naru hated the fact her students didn't believe Tsuna would be successful but she knew no matter what she said to them, they wouldn't believe her until they see it for themselves. In a way, it reminded her of her own classmates who scoffed and told her she would never become a kunoichi.

She showed them though because Naru Uzumaki was still the best kunoichi Konoha ever had.

 _Boom._

 _Boom._

Naru blinked her eyes and rushed towards the windows, where she could see a huge cloud of smoke on the school's playground. There was only one person who could do something like this and that was Gokudera. What the hell was he thinking of exploding the playground? No, there had to be a reason why the boy was doing this. She refused to believe the smart boy would do something as stupid as this without a good reason. Damn it, she wished someone could tell her what the hell was happening.

She couldn't believe she was thinking this but she wished Reborn could explain to her what her student was doing.

"Why is the playground exploding?" One of her students yelled, looking wide-eyed at the playground. "Uzumaki-sensei, what's happening?"

"I don't know," Naru answered, running her hand through her hair as she looked down at the playground. "You guys stay here while I try to find out what the hell is happening."

"But Uzumaki-sensei, it's dangerous!" Another student pointed out as another explosion went off.

Naru grinned. "You think an explosion like this could kill me? Don't worry about me, I want you guys to stay here while I find out the situation. It doesn't seem like the explosion will happen in the school."

"But Uzumaki-sensei…"

"This is an order," Naru said firmly, narrowing her eyes at her students.

They all stared at her with worry but Naru just smiled at her students before rushing towards the playground to find out what was happening. If the principle found out, Gokudera was the one causing explosions then the silver-haired boy would definitely be kicked out of school. She didn't want the only friend Tsuna had in this school to be expelled if the boy was expelled then who the hell could look after Tsuna when she couldn't be there for him.

She stopped running when she caught sight of half-naked Tsuna with a couple of dowsing rods. Her young, cute student was standing in front of the playground with a dowsing rod and had a crazed look on his face. Rubbing her eyes, Naru watched in fascination as the young boy's drowsing rods turned into a chameleon, which was running towards her. She blinked her eyes when the chameleon ran past her. Twisting her body around, Naru was greeted by the sight of Reborn smirking at her as the chameleon settled on his hat with a gun in his hand.

"Uzumaki, you should watch Tsuna instead of me," Reborn said, smirking at her. "You've all the time to look at my beautiful face but you don't have all the time to watch Tsuna do this."

She scowled at him before looking back at Tsuna, who had his hands curled into a fist towards the playground. What was he planning to do? Naru couldn't help but wonder as her student punched the ground, causing it to split into half. She groaned when she caught sight of the hundred of bombs in the air, which was no doubt thrown by Gokudera.

"Why the hell were they doing this?" Naru asked him, watching as the playground exploded into a million pieces. "And what did you do to Tsuna to cause him to punch the ground like that? No civilian can do this...so how can he do it?"

"Nezu told them they needed to dig up the 15-year-old time capsule by today if they wished not to be expelled," Reborn explained, pressing his hands into his pockets. "That is why Gokudera caused the explosions and as to how I made Tsuna punch the ground...well I'll tell you about it tomorrow night during dinner."

Naru pursed her lips. "I said if they weren't expelled then I would make dinner for you tomorrow...as of yet, we've no idea about what their fates might be."

"Uzumaki! Look what your students did to this playground!" Nezu yelled, drawing her attention away from Reborn. "It looks like they'll be expelled!"

Gokudera walked towards them with a couple of papers in his hands. Naru blinked her eyes and raised her eyebrows at him but the young man just ignored her, instead stalking towards Nezu and waving a couple of papers, which showed terrible test grades. Naru's eyes widened when she realized the name on the test papers was of the teacher beside her, the very teacher who declared he never had a bad grade in his life.

Lying bastard.

"We couldn't find a 15-year-old time capsule but we did find a 40-year-old time capsule," Gokudera explained, narrowing his eyes at the sensei beside her. "Now why are the tests of a man who claimed to come from a good university went to an ordinary school like ours? And explain to me how you had these terrible scores."

Naru smirked. "My, my, Nezu-sensei, it seems you've been lying to the whole school about your terrible grades. Now I think we can all agree that my students aren't expelled. I think we can also agree that you're fired due to lying about your schooling...though I can't say that is for true but I'm certain the principle will be in agreement with me when I say that a man who lies about his schooling must have lied about everything else. Gokudera, take those papers to the principle and tell him everything you found out."

Gokudera scowled at her but made no attempts to refuse her orders. Instead, he sneered at Nezu and went towards the principle office with the papers in his hands. The middle-aged man just stared at them in shock and horror at what was happening to him. If it weren't for the fact her students were watching her, Naru would punch the man for every insult he threw at her students and to her.

So she did the next best thing, she gave him a sneer which would have made Sasuke proud of her.

"Uzumaki...you do realize that now your students aren't expelled that you're going to have dinner with me tomorrow."

Naru just grinned at him, causing the male to blink his eyes at her. Normally, she would be irritated with him for the reminder but the fact her students had a high chance of not being expelled, well it made her think that having dinner with the man wouldn't be so bad. It was thanks to this man that Tsuna wasn't expelled from school so one home-cooked dinner wouldn't hurt.

"You better be in my apartment by eight, Reborn or else I'll eat without you," Naru informed him as Tsuna jogged towards them.

Reborn smirked. "Don't you worry Uzumaki, you'll find I'm very punctual. Now, what are you making tomorrow?"

"That's for me to know and for you to find out," Naru declared, causing the man to smirk.

"I can't wait to find out."

* * *

 **Q &A**

 **Q: Will Naru just have chakra or will she also have flames?**

A: As of now, Naru will just have chakra but I might change my mind later.

* * *

 **A/N: Please tell me what you think about this chapter especially if the characters are kept in character or not. Also, I would like to hear your opinion on Naru's developing relationship with Gokudera.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** **I want to thank everyone who added this story to their favourites and follows as well as to everyone who reviewed the last chapter.**

* * *

"Are you ready, brat?" Naru asked Gokudera as soon as he stepped out of the school gates with Tsuna right beside him. The silver-haired teen scowled, looking irritated at her reminder but if he thought his scowl would be enough for her to leave him alone then he had another thing coming. Tsuna just glanced at Gokudera and then at her in confusion. She just smiled at the young teen, who just flushed red. Why the hell was her student blushing so red? Was he sick again? Naru couldn't help but wonder as she gazed at the boy. "If you don't come with me Gokudera, I'll take Tsuna to your apartment."

Gokudera scowled and glanced at Tsuna. "I'm sorry Juudaime but this annoying woman demands that I've to go with her to the shop."

"Annoying woman? This annoying woman is making you go to the shop so that you don't waste your money recklessly," Naru said, narrowing her eyes at him. "One day, brat, you'll be glad that I made you go shopping for food."

"And I don't need an annoying woman helping me live my life," Gokudera snapped, flinching when the blonde grabbed his ear. "What the hell are you doing woman? I said I was going with you didn't I? Ow!"

Naru narrowed her eyes at him. "That's for calling me annoying. I don't know what type of life you had but here's the first thing you should learn if you want to keep the one thing that makes you a man...learn some manners when it comes to a female. One day you might just piss off the wrong female and when that happens, consider any chance of having kids taken away."

"U-Uzumaki-sensei," Tsuna stuttered, drawing her attention away from Gokudera. The brown-haired boy was looking at her in shock for her behaviour and Naru would normally care how this young boy looked at her but Gokudera wasn't the type of boy who needed someone to coddle. No, Gokudera was different from her in that sense. When she was younger, she wanted someone to coddle but Gokudera didn't need that. No, what Gokudera needed was someone to show him some tough love. "W-Why are you doing this?"

"I'm taking your friend to the grocery store because I know as soon as I look away he'll leave without me," Naru explained. "And your friend here isn't going to listen to me unless I drag him by the ear to the store."

"T-That isn't what I meant Uzumaki-sensei," Tsuna stuttered, glancing at Gokudera and then to her. "I mean why are you taking him to the grocery store?"

Naru pursed her lips, glanced at Gokudera, who looked away from her, and then stared at Tsuna before shaking her head. The things she would do to keep the trust of her students, Naru thought wearily, putting her hand into her pocket as she thought of a good lie to give to the young male. As much as she believed that honesty was the best policy, she also knew this wasn't her secret to tell.

"I'm teaching Gokudera the importance of going to the grocery store to get food," Naru said, glancing at Gokudera, who nodded his head in agreement. "Now if you excuse us, I'll be taking Gokudera to get food."

Tsuna blinked his eyes, dumbly nodded his head at them and furrowed his eyebrows as the blonde dragged Gokudera by the ear towards the streets which would lead to the nearest grocery store to Gokudera's apartment. She ignored the stares from the pedestrians who gawked at her as she continued to drag the silver-haired boy by the ear towards the store.

"Let go of me, woman!"

"Say the magic work Gokudera and I'll let go."

"Fine! Please let me go Uzumaki."

Naru smiled and let go of the young male's ear. He slumped his shoulders, rubbed his ears and looked at her like she was an insane woman for doing what she did but the brat deserved it. No one called her insane and got away with it, not even her own students were an exception to this rule. Nodding her head, she pressed her hands into her pockets and gestured for the male to move ahead of her.

"So Gokudera...how long have you been living by yourself?" Naru asked, raising her eyebrows at the boy. "Since I told you how old I was when I lived by myself, I think it's only fair you tell me how old you were when you lived by yourself."

"Who told you to tell me how old you were."

"I told you because I've nothing to be ashamed about," Naru stated, pressing her hands into her pockets. "And I'm not going to say anything about how young you were because I don't think anything can beat the age of six. My best friend started living by himself when he was eight but that was because he lost his whole family at that age."

"You shouldn't tell people everything," Gokudera snapped as the two of them walked towards the grocery store. "For someone who lived in the streets before, you're so open."

Naru arched her eyebrows. "If I wasn't open to people then I'll be paranoid and won't trust anyone...if that happens then I won't make any friends. Y'know if you want to make more friends Gokudera, you need to start letting people in."

"Juudaime is enough for me."

"You say that now but when you're older, you might want more friends," she said, opening the grocery's store door for the boy before grabbing the trolley from the ones beside the door. "Besides, you shouldn't call Tsuna Juudaime if you want to protect Tsuna then you need to start calling him by his first name."

"I can't call Juudaime by his first name...that's unthinkable."

"Then do you want him to get hurt? Do you want him to feel pressured?" Naru asked him seriously as the two of them head towards the vegetable section of the grocery store. He scoffed at her words, causing the blonde to sigh at him. "Gokudera, I don't know what you're thinking but Tsuna isn't strong enough to protect himself from himself not yet at least so it wouldn't do him any good for his familiga's enemies to find him."

"I can protect him by myself just fine."

Kami, she had a lot of work to do with that boy.

"No, you can't Gokudera," Naru said seriously, grabbing a pair of green onions from the aisle. "Gokudera, when you're picking green onions you need to look for green onions with fresh, green tops with slightly white ends but avoid onions with yellowing tops or wilted greens...also if it's soggy or if the white tips are rotting then avoid it. Now where was I before this...ah right, you can't protect him by yourself Gokudera. You're only one person Gokudera and his enemies might be one day so great that you can't handle all of them."

"I can protect him just fine by myself, my bombs can handle it."

"Gokudera, don't take this the wrong way but you're not strong enough," Naru said firmly, narrowing her eyes as she grabbed a carrot. "Not even the strongest warriors can fight their enemies by themselves...they work in teams."

"No one is good enough to protect him," Gokudera stated as they walked towards the meat section of the grocery store.

Naru wrinkled her nose. "Say there isn't anyone good enough to protect him then how the hell are you going to protect Tsuna when you can't be there? One day, he'll have to send you to other places to do jobs while he stuck in an office. You think he can protect himself? He can't do that just yet. If you want to be the only one protecting him, then you have to make clones of yourself and that isn't something you can do."

No one outside of the Elemental Countries could, Naru thought, crossing her arms as she waited for his answer. Even then, shadow clones were unreliable. With just one pop, the clones were gone and it would be easy for a person to attack. It also took a lot of chakra to make multiple copies of them. She wished she could tell Gokudera this but everything about her village needed to be kept a secret from them.

"It'll be possible one day," Gokudera said as he pushed the cart. "One day, it'll be possible to make multiple clones of myself and when that day happens, they'll guard the Juudaime when I'm not there."

Naru didn't know whether or not to think her young student's thoughts as being cute or disturbing. It was sweet how he wanted to be the only one to protect Tsuna but she was worried about what it meant for him. If Gokudera protected Tsuna twenty-four hours then Tsuna might just feel suffocated under his care and Naru knew it was like having people keeping their eyes on you to protect them.

It was suffocating to say the least, which was why Naru used to hide from the ANBU guards who kept their eyes on her.

"Y'know Gokudera, you've so much to learn about protecting your loved ones," Naru said softly, causing the male to scowl at her. She knew from the look in his eyes that he thought she was saying it because he was young. "I'm not telling you this because I think you're naive or young but I'm guessing that Tsuna is your first precious person right?"

"My precious person?" Gokudera said, furrowing his eyebrows.

Naru smiled and nodded. "Y'know the one person who you love, the one person you would do everything in your power to protect."

"He is," Gokudera answered. "I'll do everything in my power to make sure Juudaime is safe."

"As long as you have that thought in your mind Gokudera, there's no doubt in my mind you'll become stronger," Naru said, smiling widely at him. "Someone once told me that as long as you have someone to protect then you can become stronger or something like that...it was so long ago when he said it to me. Now...let's go back to shopping. We're going to be making Oyakodon today!"

"I don't like…"

"Too bad, I'm the one teaching you and I'm telling you that this is what you're going to learn," Naru said, cracking a smile at the boy, who just grunted at her but Naru could see his lips were twitching at her words.

She got a lot of work with this one.

* * *

Running her hand through her hair, Naru gazed out of the window where she could see her homeroom class playing baseball for their last lesson of the day. She watched as Yamamoto agreed to take Tsuna to his team, ignoring his classmates calls about how they'll lose their game if they had him. One of these days, Naru was going to have to request the principle to let her have one whole day to build on her class relationship.

"Yamamoto will do some good in Tsuna's family," Reborn said, snapping her from her train of thought. "He's very athletic and popular isn't he?"

The blonde didn't bother to look away from the window and answered, "I should tell you not to even think of bringing that boy in but you're not going to listen to me and yes, Yamamoto is very athletic no one can deny that and popularity? From the moment the boy entered the school, he has gotten everyone to like him but...I don't know if he's happy."

"You think Yamamoto is hiding his real emotions," Reborn stated but Naru knew from his tone in his voice that he didn't think she was overthinking it. The other teachers would have laughed at her for thinking that a student like Yamamoto might be feeling down but Naru trusted her feelings and she knew something wasn't right.

"I know he's hiding his emotions," Naru said softly, clasping her fingers together as she watched Tsuna tried to hit the ball, only to fail. "When Yamamoto started school, his smiles were filled with so much warmth and kindness...it was real but now whenever he smiles, it's the complete opposite. He's forcing himself to smile and he won't tell anyone why! I can't ask him because the boy would lie to me. I thought I made it clear to everyone in my class that I'm easy to talk to, that I'll try my best to help."

"It won't be your fault that he doesn't tell you," Reborn said, drawing her attention to him. For once since she met him, he had a serious expression on his face and Naru didn't know whether she liked it or not. "Some students don't like talking to teachers about their problems especially if they think their teacher wouldn't understand their feelings. After all, students seemed to forget that their teachers had once been students."

"Even if they think we didn't have that experience, they should still try to talk to us about it," Naru stated, licking her dried lips as she gazed into his dark eyes. "For all they know, we might have some advice for them. I can't give them advice if they don't tell us."

Reborn sighed and gestured for her to take a seat. She raised her eyebrows, opening her mouth to tell him that she didn't need a seat but he gave her a look that said if she didn't take a seat then he would force her to sit down. She sighed and grabbed the closest seat to her while Reborn grabbed the next one. She crossed her arms, waiting for him to start explaining himself.

"You can't help someone who doesn't want help," Reborn said seriously, placing his hands on the table. "If Yamamoto doesn't come to you and tell you about his problems then you can't force him to tell you that will make him trust you less. I know you know he isn't like Gokudera and he isn't like Tsuna, who sees you as his saviour. Yamamoto is like most boys, they won't tell anyone about their problems especially a female teacher."

"If I ignore it then what if he does something extreme like suicide?" Naru said, pressing her hands against her temple. "Y'know I heard students who become so depressed that they would kill themselves. If that happens, how do I explain it to his father? No, how can I even look at myself in the mirror? Reborn, have you ever felt so lost at what to do?"

He stared at her for a good long minute before reluctantly nodding her head. "Yes, once but I'm not telling you about it."

"Why not?"

"You won't tell me why you became a teacher and it's personal," Reborn said, crossing his arms.

She pouted. "I'll tell you about why I became a teacher during dinner and the reason why I became one is very personal."

"I still won't tell you even if you tell me why you became a teacher," he admitted, giving her a smirk. She pouted even more, causing the hitman to laugh. "You think that cute pout of yours will make me tell you about my experience? Uzumaki, if you want me to tell you then you have to _persuade_ me."

She blinked her eyes and flushed red as she realized Reborn given her another compliment. She should be used to having him giving her compliments but until Naru met Reborn, no one had ever given her compliments about her looks. Sakura got a lot of compliments on her looks and even been on a few dates, Ino had been on so many dates that it wasn't even funny and Hinata had been with Kiba since the two of them were fourteen.

She was twenty-four years old but not once had she ever been on a date, much less gotten a compliment from a guy.

"Y'know if you want that dinner of yours, we should start heading off to my house," Naru said, causing Reborn to raise his eyebrows at her. She sighed and looked out at the window, where the kids were still playing baseball. "I'm free now and even though you said dinner, I think lunch is still acceptable...besides I've a feeling that we're going to have a heart to heart talks and when I've a heart to heart talk, well I can go on for hours."

"The fact that you want to have lunch suggests to me that you want to get rid of me faster," Reborn pointed out, pushing himself off the chair.

She smiled even wider. "Damn it, and here I thought I got you fooled."

He smirked before offering his hand for her to take. Tilting her head, Naru looked at Reborn and then to his hand before putting her hands on his and pulled herself up. This was the one time she would let him help her, Naru decided, taking her bag from the ground as he opened her classroom door for her. The perfect gentleman, she thought to herself wearily, putting her hand into her pocket as the two of them walked out.

The question was, the perfect gentleman an act or was he truly sincere about wanting to know her?

* * *

Uzumaki's apartment showed more about her personality than her office did that was the first thing that came to his mind. The apartment walls were painted in a soft marigold colour, calming and peaceful but there was something about the colour which stood out. In that way, it reminded Reborn of the woman beside him. Uzumaki was a calming woman but she stood out in a crowd. Everyone around her stared at her, not just because of her hair colour but because there was something about the woman that drew people's attention.

The apartment also had more pictures of the young woman beside him. There were photos of her smiling with a pink-haired girl, pictures of her eating ramen with a fat teenage boy and a pineapple-haired boy, photos of a young Uzumaki with a shy blue-haired girl. Yes, there were a lot of photos of the girl but if there was one thing in common about the photos, it was the fact that Uzumaki always had a headband around her head.

"Make yourself at home while I cook lunch," Uzumaki yelled at him from the kitchen. "It might be an hour before I get our meal over and done with. I hope you don't mind gyudon and onigiri Reborn because that's the only thing I can make in less than an hour."

He shrugged his shoulders and started to walk around the room. There were so many pictures scattered around the pictures, all of them with the blond woman with a friend but not one picture did Uzumaki had of a boyfriend. Not that it surprised him because the way the woman acted at times did give him the idea the blonde never had someone complimenting her, though, Uzumaki could have dated a man who showed his compliments in other ways.

It was a pity if that was true because women deserved to be complimented.

He shook his head, continued to look around and raised his eyebrows when he caught sight of a piece of paper lying around on the ground. Glancing at the kitchen, he saw that Uzumaki was so focused on her cooking that she barely glanced at him. Nodding his head, Reborn picked up the paper and raised his eyebrows when he saw it was a letter address to the young woman beside him from a woman called Sakura.

Leaning against the wall, Reborn skimmed read through the letter. This woman in the letter seemed to care a lot about the blonde, asking her about her health and telling her not to overwork herself but there were hints that the woman was becoming irritated with Uzumaki. The woman kept asking Uzumaki to come back home to their village and that her need to explore the world should be over and done with by now. Did Uzumaki want to travel the world? Reborn wondered, gazing at the blond-haired woman who was singing off-pitch as she cut the salmon into tiny pieces. He didn't know much about the woman that much was true but he did know she had been a teacher for a good two years now, which made him wonder where she had been before.

Shaking his head, he continued to read the letter and raised his eyebrows when he read the bit about the woman talking about a man called Sasuke and how he hadn't even come back from his own journey. The woman seemed to be pleading for Uzumaki to come back so that their team could go back to the way it was.

It was a good thing he knew Uzumaki wasn't a civilian or else he would have been confused at what she meant.

Walking towards the kitchen, Reborn watched as the blond-haired woman furrowed her eyebrows as she cut the onions into sliced pieces. How long had it been since Uzumaki been in her hometown? It must be a while for her friend to ask her to come back but why hadn't she visited her hometown in a long time? Uzumaki didn't seem like the kind of woman who would avoid her problems.

"How long has it been since you went to your hometown, Uzumaki?" Reborn asked as she grabbed the saucepan.

Uzumaki twisted her body around and raised her eyebrows at him. "How do you know I haven't been...you read my letters didn't you? Do you know how to mind your own business?"

"Your friend wants you to come back home," Reborn continued, ignoring her question. Uzumaki rolled her eyes as she placed water, dashi powder and onions into the saucepan. "She seems to think you're still exploring the world but you've been here for the past two years."

"Before I was in Japan, I was in China," Uzumaki said, pressing her lips into a thin line. "I spent, at least, two months there just watching and observing the people there. Before China, I was in South Korea, where I learnt a new language which took me a month to learn. Before South Korea, I was in Italy which was the worse country I have ever been to because they had no ramen, seriously how can your country not have an endless supply of good ramen? Don't get me wrong I loved the pasta but nothing beats ramen. I spent three weeks there."

"You still haven't answered my question, how long has it been since you last seen your home?"

"Seven years," Uzumaki answered. "Happy now?"

"Very much so," Reborn said, watching her as she added soy sauce into the pot. "If you spent such a short time in those countries, why did you spend so much time here?"

"To be honest, I don't know why." Uzumaki answered. "Until I had my own homeroom, I had no reason to stay such a long time in this small town but there was something about this town which made me want to stay and it doesn't help I don't feel ready to go back home just yet."

"Why can't you go home just yet?"

Uzumaki looked hard at him and answered. "I'm afraid if I tell you then it means I trust you and Reborn, I don't trust you just yet with my secrets."

"Didn't we say we were going to have a heart to heart talk?" Reborn pointed out.

"Heart to heart doesn't mean I tell you everything," Uzumaki answered, smiling. "People keep secrets and I'm not an exception to this Reborn. You don't tell me everything about yourself, the same goes for me. When you tell me everything about yourself, only then will I tell you my whole life story."

"So if I tell you something then you'll tell the same thing in exchange," Reborn asked, raising his eyebrows.

Nodding, Uzumaki walked towards the fridge, pulled out the sake and poured the drinks into two glasses. "Yeah, it's only fair and if there's one thing you should know about me Reborn, I'm fair."

"I know," Reborn said, remembering the number of times he caught the woman yelling at her students to help Tsuna whenever their teams lost. "You're fair to your students, that is something no one can deny about while I'm quite sadistic with mine."

"I wouldn't know," Uzumaki said dryly, gulping down her sake in one shot. "Have you always been a hitman?"

Reborn placed his hands into his pockets and nodded. "Yes, I've been a hitman since I was old enough to shoot. I'm not going to ask you if you've always been a teacher since we both know you weren't always so my question is, what was your job before this?"

The blond-haired woman put the sliced beef into her pot. "Before I became a teacher, I was a kunoichi...I'm still a kunoichi since there's no such thing as a retired kunoichi."

Kunoichi? Didn't that mean a female ninja? Reborn wondered, watching as the pretty blue-eyed woman stir the foot with determination in her eyes. How did a trained killer end up in a job like this? This was the first time he ever heard of a ninja becoming a teacher. Not only that, there was still ninjas in Japan? The last time he heard of Japan having ninjas was during the 1940s, three decades before his birth.

"Since I told you where I was before Namimori, tell me where were you before this?" Uzumaki asked, pouring the meat and sauce over the rice, which was already in the bowl. He grabbed the bowl from beside her and placing it on the table. It smelled good but Reborn knew better than to eat Uzumaki's food. Something told him the woman would know if he sneaked a bite of her food.

"I was in Sicily training another student," Reborn answered as Uzumaki placed two bowls on the table along with some onigiri. How she cooked it so fast, he didn't know but he hoped her cooking was better than Bianchi. "Now here's a question, Uzumaki, out of all the jobs you could have picked after being a ninja, you choose to be a teacher...why?"

Uzumaki sighed and gazed down at her empty glass. "I never thought of becoming a teacher, it was always the last thing in my mind whenever I thought of the future. I hated being in school so much that if I could, I would find ways to skip it so of course, I never thought of being a teacher but I came here but I remember the teachers who changed my life and I wondered if I could change others."

"Then why didn't you become a teacher for ninjas?"

Uzumaki wrinkled her nose. "I wouldn't have been able to handle it."

"And you could handle being a Middle-School teacher?" He asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Don't question me, Reborn," Uzumaki grumbled, picking up the onigiri. "You've no idea how much hell it would have been for me to become a teacher there and if I ever go back home, you can bet your ass I'm not going to be a teacher. Kami, if my friends knew I was a teacher, I would never hear the end of it."

"Why?"

"Could you imagine the worst troublemaker in your school becoming a teacher? Especially if they had the worst grades in the entire year?" Uzumaki asked, placing the gyudon into a bowl and handing it to him. "My grades were a joke Reborn, if you thought Tsuna's grades were bad then my grades would have made you think Tsuna's grades were terrific...it was that bad."

"Your grades were so bad but you became a Math teacher."

"If there was one academic subject I was good at, it was Math," Uzumaki explained. "From the moment, I got my first taste of money I learnt how to save it...though I did have times when I wasted all of it on food."

"What kind of food?"

"Ramen," Uzumaki answered, grinning. "I can't control myself with ramen. Until I was eleven, all my meals were ramen not only because it was cheap but there was something about ramen, which reminded me of home. If I didn't think you would like it, I would have made you some."

The smile on her face really suited her, Reborn thought as he stared at her. He had seen most of her expressions but that happy expression on her face gave a warmth that he hadn't felt since he had his curse. He could understand why most of her male students adored her but how could a person with such a warm smile and caring personality have never been with someone? He wondered, taking a bite of his food.

It seriously didn't make sense.

"So how does it taste?" Uzumaki asked, snapping him from his train of thought.

Reborn stared impassively at her. "It taste alright."

"You mean it taste amazing," Uzumaki declared, eating her own bowl.

"Alright."

"Amazing."

"Alright."

"Alright."

"Amazing," Reborn said, causing the blonde to grin even more at him.

It should piss him off he fell into her trap but Reborn knew when to pick his fights and he knew this was one fight he didn't want to argue with her about. Besides, he was a liar when he said it was alright. The woman was definitely a better cook than Bianchi but anyone could be a better cook than his ex-girlfriend. The amount of times he had to think of an excuse not to eat her cooking since he couldn't tell her that she was giving him poison food instead of normal food.

He should call her soon because Bianchi might be useful in Tsuna's training.

"Seriously Reborn, what do you think of my cooking?"

"It's great...not as good as Nana but out of every woman's cooking I ever tasted, yours is in the top ten," Reborn admitted, smiling as the blonde smiled widely at him.

If Uzumaki kept making food like this, he might just try to sneak into her house and ask her to make dinner especially if he asked Bianchi to come. There was no way in hell, he was going to force himself to eat his ex-girlfriend's cooking ever again.

Yeah, he was going to come to her apartment more often and if they ever reached a point where Uzumaki might consider him as a friend, he would ask her for help in training Tsuna.

* * *

 **A/N: Originally I wanted to include the scene with Yamamoto however I thought that deserved to be a whole chapter by itself so this came about instead. Tell me what do you think about the chapter and if Naru and Reborn's relationship is developing at a nice pace or if you think it's going too fast.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter as well as to everyone who added this story to their favourites and follows.**

* * *

When Naru looked through her home room's class window, she knew instantly something was wrong. Everyone was smiling, laughing and joking around without a care in the world, but Yamamoto wasn't smiling. True, he shouldn't be smiling and laughing during lessons but he always looks happy. For once since he started school, the kid had finally stopped smiling and it scared her. If his eyes shone with anger then she wouldn't be scared but her student's eyes were dull. Her student had the eyes of someone, who had given up on life and for the life of hers, Naru couldn't understand why.

Licking her lips, Naru fixed her eyes on Yamamoto as she tried to figure out what was wrong with him. He didn't look like he had been in a fight though his hand was in a cast. She felt her throat become dry as she realized his broken hand was the same hand he used to swing his bat. How could this happen? She glanced at her other students, who remained oblivious to Yamamoto's problems. No, there was someone who noticed his problems.

Tsuna seemed to notice it but for some reason the brat looked guilty. Did Reborn do anything again? No, this wasn't something Reborn would do. She might hate the man for how he treats Tsuna but he would never cause someone to break their arm without a reason and there would be no reason for him to break Yamamoto's arm. There must be a reason why Tsuna was linked towards Yamamoto's broken arm.

Either way, Yamamoto looked like he was going to do something reckless and that wasn't something Naru needed for her student to do.

If anything happened to that boy, Naru didn't know what to do with herself. These kids were more than her students, they were all a part of her family and if there was one thing Naru didn't like, it was for her family to suffer. It was obvious to her that Yamamoto was hurt, was suffering from his sadness but she didn't know what was causing him to be sad. His father was a kind man as far as Naru knew from the amount of times she interacted with the man so he couldn't be the cause of his pain.

No, there was another reason why Yamamoto's behaviour changed.

Naru rubbed her temple as she tried to figure out a way to talk to the boy without drawing attention to him. She could always call him out of lesson but it would draw attention to him and the last thing she needed was for him to get attention. Maybe she could see him during break but that might draw attention to him. Damn it, no matter how she looked at it, she was going to draw attention to him.

She sighed and made her way towards her office, where she knew without a doubt that Reborn would be sitting in her chair, reading through any of her letters like it was his own business. If Naru didn't know there was nothing he could use against her, she would have put a seal on her drawers. Still why the hell did he like reading her personal letters? It wasn't any of his damn business about who she talked to or what she talked with her friends.

"Uzumaki," Reborn greeted when she entered her room.

"Reborn," Naru said, shaking her head at him as she took her usual seat. "Don't you have a student to observe?"

"I don't have to observe him every single hour," Reborn pointed out, watching her as she took out a piece of empty paper from the pile of paper she had beside her. "He's doing fine unlike a certain person I know."

"I'm doing fine."

"I didn't say it was you did I? But thank you for telling me that you aren't fine," Reborn said, smirking at her as she scowled at him. "Now tell me what's the problem. Are you still worried about Yamamoto?"

"Of course, I'm still worried about him," Naru said, slumping her shoulder. "He's my student Reborn, isn't it normal for you to worry about your own student? Tell me if something happens to Tsuna then wouldn't you be worried?"

"I usually cause the problem so no."

"You shouldn't be proud of this," Naru said dryly, earning a smirk from the male. "But seriously Reborn, if Tsuna was depressed then wouldn't you worry about him? You've been around him for a good month or two so…"

"You don't live with Yamamoto," Reborn said, clasping his hands together as he stared at her. "So you don't know him as well as I do with Tsuna. If there's one thing I'm glad for is the fact that even though that boy didn't have many friends and had been bullied by so many people, the boy never reached a point where he would do something drastic."

That could be said for many people, Naru wanted to point out to him but she thought back to the days before Reborn came to Tsuna's life. She only taught Tsuna this year but Naru had seen the boy was like during his primary school days. The boy was so quiet, so meek, so lonely but ever since Reborn came, Naru could see some changes in her student's behaviour. He was still meek and still so quiet but his eyes no longer shone with loneliness and that was more than enough for her.

"Y'know I never thought Yamamoto will be depressed," Naru admitted, looking out of the window. "Out of everyone in the class, only Yamamoto didn't let anything faze him. He always smiles and he always ask about my well-being. He's just so...good and sweet. For him to become like this, it scares the crap out of me. I see myself in him at times and not once have I ever felt that depressed."

"There are many reasons why people become that depressed," Reborn said, folding his arms against his chest. "There are events in your life which makes you feel depressed or they might be in a situation which is causing them to feel that way. People deal with their emotions in different way. How Yamamoto will deal with it is something you have to wait and see."

"What if he does something drastic?" Naru asked, rubbing her temple. "I don't care what you say Reborn. I'm not going to wait and see! He's my student, my precious student. He's apart of my family just like Tsuna is and I won't forgive myself if that boy does something stupid."

"If you talk to him then you might plant ideas in his head," Reborn pointed out. "You need to watch the situation before making a decision."

"And what if I find out my student is dead because of my stupidity?"

"Then you'll have to move on," He said, leaning against his chair. "You can't save everyone Uzumaki and you've to learn to accept it. You can mourn for a person but you can't let their deaths dictate your life...you'll never move on."

"I know," Naru said quietly, looking at the pictures of her friends.

One cannot cling to the past that much Naru had realized during her journey through the countries of this side of the world. She could never become happy if she allowed the memories of the deaths of her fellow comrades haunted her and Naru doubted they wanted that for her. Still, a part of her always felt like it was breaking apart whenever she remembered the corpses of her fellow shinobi.

A larger part of her always want to curl into a ball whenever she remembered how Sasuke nearly killed her.

"What's stopping you from moving on?" Reborn asked.

"What makes you think I'm moving on? There's no reason for me to move on," Naru answered, crossing her arms at him. "For me to move on means that something happen to me. My friends are alive and well, having their own families so there's no reason for me to move on. There's no reason for me to move on because there's nothing for me to move on from."

Reborn curled his lips. "Did anyone tell you that you suck at lying? I thought ninjas were supposed to be skilled liars."

"Screw you, Reborn..."

"Your place or Tsuna's?"

"You're lucky in school or else I'll punch you in the face for that comment," Naru snapped, rubbing her temple. "I've no desire of sleeping with you. Now back to the topic at hand, you accusing me of not moving on. There's no reason for me to move on because I've nothing to move on from."

"Nothing? Uzumaki, you've been avoiding your home for the past five years for a reason," Reborn said, causing the blonde to blink her eyes at him. "You haven't visited your home in the past five years which suggests to me that you're avoiding something but what? What could make a woman like you avoid home? Did you lose a lover?"

She snorted. "A lover? You got to be kidding me! You think I'll avoid going home because of a man? What am I? A weakling. I'm not a pathetic woman who would leave home because the man I love died."

"No you're not," Reborn agreed. "I knew that much since I met you but Uzumaki don't think I'm an idiot. I'm the best hitman in the world, which means I do have some brains and I know for a person like you to leave your friends that something must have caused you to want to travel."

"Maybe something did," Naru answered, crossing her hands against her chest. "But I'm not telling you...I might talk to you a lot of things but we're not so close for me to even think of telling you about my reasons for leaving home."

"One day, I'll find out why you left," Reborn said, leaning forward. "Once I want to know something, I'll do _everything_ in my power to find out."

Naru narrowed her eyes at him. "And let me tell you something bastard, if you think I'll _tell_ you why then you have another thing coming."

"I've other ways of finding out."

"Tsuna doesn't know why."

"I know."

"Then how will you figure it out?"

Reborn smirked at her and gazed deeply into her blue eyes and said slowly. "That. Is. A. Secret."

Staring into his dark eyes, Naru couldn't help but wonder why the man was so interested about her life. He had never bothered the other teachers yet when it came to her, the man was almost always in her office, ready to talk to her. They always ended up talking about her coming here or him pestering her to go dinner with him or even making fun about her lack of lovelife.

"I don't get you."

"Oh?" Reborn asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Why do you always come to annoy me?" She asked, keeping her eyes fixed on him. "There's no reason for you to come looking for me but ever since you came here, you have always tried to talk to me...heck you even made a bet with me so I could have dinner with you. Why?"

The raven-haired man blinked his eyes and answered. "You're interesting Uzumaki that's why I keep pestering you. Out of everyone in this small town, you're the only one I have seen who has given care to Tsuna. It's not because I think you're attractive that I bother you because I'll not waste my time trying to get to know a woman if my intention is to sleep with her."

"I'm not the type of woman who does a one night stand."

"I know you're not Uzumaki," Reborn informed her. "If anything Uzumaki, I'll tell you that you're not the type of woman who deserves a man leaving you in the middle of the night. A woman like you...deserves so much more."

Was it her or was the room becoming hot? Naru thought suddenly, looking away from the smirking man. She should talk to the principal about installing an aircondition in her office because it suddenly felt hotter then before. Right, she should just open the window. Nodding her head, Naru twisted her chair around and open the window, hoping the cool air would lower the temperature in the room.

Reborn chuckled and shook his head at her. Naru blinked her eyes, pinched her cheeks before staring wide-eyed at the chuckling man. Did she actually hear him laugh? Oh kami, she actually heard him laugh for once. Naru didn't know whether to find it frightening or if she should find it nice because she wasn't stupid. She would admit Reborn had a nice laugh and if she didn't think Reborn had a big head, she would have told him that.

"Why are you laughing?"

"I just wonder if your blush spreads to your whole body."

Her response to this?

She grabbed the nearest book and hurl it at the older male, who just ducked and made his way out of the door but not before waving his goodbyes to her.

There was no way she would even think the man was her friend, let alone someone she would consider going out with.

* * *

Sasuke was back in the village again, Naru thought as she read through the latest letter from Sakura, who gushed about her new relationship with their old teammate. She didn't know whether she should be happy for Sakura, who could finally have the relationship she always dreamt, or if she should feel unhappy for the fact Sasuke was with Sakura. The two of them were never together, Naru knew that but a part of her always thought she would be with Sasuke.

Maybe it was for the best, she thought to herself as she placed the letter into her drawer and took a sip of her green tea. Sakura deserved to be happy and if Sasuke made her happy then she shouldn't stand in their way. They were perfect for each other, she told herself as she gazed out of the window. The two of them were smart and they were both good-looking, Naru reminded herself as she picked up a piece of paper from the pile of unmarked third year papers. It made sense for them to be together.

Besides, what was she thinking that someone would like her even though she had the Kyuubi inside of her?

Not everyone was like her father.

"Uzumaki-sensei!"

Naru blinked her eyes at the sight of one of her homeroom girls standing in front of her. Her heart stopped beating when she realized just how pale her student looked; the girl looked as if she saw a ghost. The girl flickered her eyes at her and then to the letter in her hand before shaking her head.

"Y-Yamamoto-kun...Y-Yamamoto-kun is going t-to jump off the r-roof!" Her student cried, staring wide-eyed at her as she gazed at her. "P-Please stop him, Uzumaki-sensei!"

 _Crash._

It barely registered in her mind she dropped her favourite mug because how could she care about her mug when her student just told her something like this. Her student just told her that Yamamoto, sweet Yamamoto was going to kill himself. Still Yamamoto? She knew he was depressed but she thought she had more time before he did something drastic. Damn it, she should have ignored the damn letter from Sakura. Her students should be more important than her relationship with her teammates. Her teammates and friends could wait but her students, her sweet children shouldn't wait for her.

She was a terrible person.

"What happened?"

"I don't know Uzumaki-sensei," The girl sobbed, pressing her hands against her face. "He s-stayed back yesterday to practice baseball but h-he went too far in his training. I-It caused him to break his arm."

His arm?She had seen his arm but it shouldn't be enough for him to go this far but Naru knew from the amount of times she talked to the boy that baseball was his life. As Yamamoto's father would tell her, it was the only thing he could remember about his mother. The same mother who abandoned her husband and son for another man, the same woman who left a sweet boy by himself without a mother's love.

If she stopped him from making the worse mistake of his life then she was going to drink sake like there was no tomorrow.

"U-Uzumaki-sensei."

"He's in the roof did you say?"

"Y-Yes."

"Then what the hell are we doing here?" She yelled, rushing out of the door to make her way towards the corridors leading to the rooftop.

" _My dream Uzumaki-sensei? I want to become the best baseball player in all of Japan!"_

Those words echoed throughout her mind along with so many other memories rushed into her mind as she pushed pass a couple of students, who were all making their way towards the corridor. Yamamoto wanted to become the best player in Japan and Naru wanted to see that boy achieved his dream. There was no way he could get that dream if he did this.

" _Uzumaki-sensei, you should drink some milk! It'll make you happy Uzumaki-sensei!"_

She could feel tears building up as more memories of her interactions with the sweet boy rushed through her mind. His sweet smiles, his laughter but most of all the way he always tried to give her advice on how to be happy echoed in her head. That boy with Tsuna and maybe even Gokudera always made her day because those three kids along with everyone else were hers. They were her kids even if she didn't give birth to them because she loved them the way a family member loved their family.

No way was she going to let him do this.

"Yamamoto!" She yelled, pushing her students aside as she reached towards the center of the circle. "Why? Why are you doing this?"

The young boy turned to look at her and her heart clenched when she saw the lifeless look in his eyes. "Why Uzumaki-sensei? You ask me why? The baseball god threw me away! I've nothing left!"

"Nothing left? Nothing left? You idiot you got a lot of things left!" Naru yelled, clenching her hands into a fist. "Is baseball all you care about? What about your father? Your old man who only have you, the old man who only talks about his son whenever I see him! He's proud of you! He sees you as his world! Do you want to leave him alone? Do you want him to suffer?"

"Uzumaki-sensei," Yamamoto said.

"Do you know what is the worse thing a parent can experience, Yamamoto? It's them knowing that they had out lived their child," Naru yelled, clenching her hands into a fist. "If you kill yourself, you're going to make your father miserable and I know you Yamamoto and I know that isn't what you want."

Yamamoto looked at her and then to the ground but he made no attempt to move away from his spot. She curled her hands into a fist and bit her lips as she tried to figure out what to tell this boy. This wasn't something she was used to. There was no way she could try to convince him to follow her thoughts but she needed the boy to see reason because she couldn't stand the thought of her loving student killing himself for something as stupid as this.

"Y'know I had a friend once who got so seriously damaged that any hopes he had for continuing his job was gone," Naru said, curling her hands into a fist. "For him to do his job, he needed to use his hands and legs but he got into a fight that led him to nearly losing the function of his left arm and leg but y'know what? He never gave up. Even though, they told him that he shouldn't train, that his career was nearly done and over with, he kept going on because he didn't believe a damn thing they say. Luckily for him, there was someone who could treat his condition and even though they told him that the chances of the operation working was low...he still took it. What I'm trying to tell you is that you shouldn't give up, Yamamoto."

"You don't understand a thing Uzumaki-sensei," Her student said. "You keep telling us that we shouldn't give up and that hard work will always win but hard work doesn't always win! Knowing you Uzumaki-sensei, I bet you never ever felt like you wanted to die because you failed."

Naru hated it but her student was right. She never _ever_ felt like dying when she failed in her task, if anything she would have continued to work on it until she succeeded in her task. If someone told her to give up on it or to stop doing it then Naru would ignore them because Naru Uzumaki didn't give up. When everyone else told her to give up on bringing back Sasuke to the village, Naru ignored their words and continued to chase Sasuke because Sasuke was her friend and Naru didn't abandon her friends.

"You're right, I've never ever felt like dying when I failed," Naru agreed, staring at the back of her student's head. "Y'know why? Because I believed that if I tried my hardest, that if I didn't give up on what I wanted to do then I'll accomplish it. It didn't matter to me how many years it would take for me to get there because I was going to get there even if I had to scarifice my body and soul for it. In this way, we're both different because I would push myself back up again and try again but you're going to throw your life away for a sport and that is unacceptable."

"Baseball means the world to me."

"And so should your friends and family," Naru told him. "Do you want me to paint the picture of what will happen to you if you drop off this roof? I'll have to call your father, tell him to come to the school and explain to him that his only son killed himself because the so called gods of baseball had forsaken him. I will then have to comfort your father, telling him that I understand his pain and how I feel sorry for his loss. Your father would yell at me for that, telling me that I don't understand a thing and y'know what? I understand because you and every single student in this school are my kids."

"Uzumaki-sensei…"

"If you take another step off that roof Yamamoto then I hope you're prepared for someone to save your life," Naru continued, causing everyone to raise their eyebrows at her. "Because I'm not going to let you die at all! And those gods of yours? If they can't recognise how devoted you are to them then screw them because I know my student is going to become the best baseball player in all of Japan, no the whole world because y'know why? Because you're a talented boy who would give his life for this sport."

Yamamoto hesitated and twisted his body around to look at her. She gave him a smile and extended her hand towards him. Taking a deep breath, Yamamoto took her hand and tried to make his way over the fence that seperated him from the others.

 _Snap._

Naru blinked her eyes as she realized that Yamamoto and her were now falling down to the ground. Didn't she tell the principal to check the fences on the rooftop? God, that man was an idiot! When they survived through this hell, Naru was so going to have a talk with him about keeping the school safe. Seriously, someone could die from this.

The irony wasn't lost on her.

Taking in a deep breath, Naru placed her hands into the familiar hand signs and yelled out, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

She watched as Gamakichi drops down to the ground. The toad wasn't going to be happy when he realized that she summoned him in a crowded building again but her student was in danger and she couldn't let him die. With that thought in her mind, Naru grabbed hold of Yamamoto, who had his eyes shut, and placed the boy on her chest as she made her way down to the ground.

As she fell down to the direction of her summons, Naru gazed at the windows and was taken back at the sight of Reborn holding a gun in his hand. Had he planned something before this? Was this his fault? No, Naru might not like the man but even he wasn't that stupid or reckless to do something like this. So the only question was, what the hell was happening?

"Yo Naru! Why did you summon me this time?" Gamakichi yelled. "If you want me to pass messages again then ask someone else! I ain't a messenger and I can't fit in houses y'know…"

Naru smiled sheepishly and looked up at the roof, where she could see her students gawking and gazing at her friend as if it was somekind of monster. In the eyes of civilians who were cut off from shinobis, Gamakichi was a monsrter because he was larger than any toad they had in this village but this couldn't be helped. Yamamoto needed to survive and the only thing she could think of at the time, was to summon Gamakichi.

"U-Uzumaki-sensei..did that toad just talked?" Yamamoto stuttered, opening his eyes and gazing down at the toad. "A-And what happened?"

"Uzumaki-sensei? Is this what you have been doing for the past five years, Naru!" Gamakichi yelled as Naru grabbed hold of her student and jumped down from the toad. "And what the hell happened for you to summon me like this?"

"My student was in trouble," Naru answered, pointing at her student. "And I needed to save him so I summoned you, now is that a problem?"

"I was in the middle of something important."

"I'm sure you were," Naru said. "But my student was in danger and I think that is a lot more important than whatever you were doing."

"You owe me big time Naru for what you did," Gamakichi said, shaking his head at her before gazing at Yamamoto, who stared at the toad with wonderment. "What are you looking at kid? Never seen a toad before?"

The young boy nodded his head and gawked at the scene before gazing at the toad with wonderment. Naru shook her head and watched as the toad disappeared, leaving her alone with her gawking student. Her student was safe and alive, though he might have a few bruises from the crash on Gamkichi's head but she would get him check out by the nurse.

"Uzumaki-sensei?"

"Yes?"

"W-Was that a really big toy that you got?"

If Gamakichi heard what Yamamoto had said, the toad would try to beat her student up for the insult he made but luckily for Yamamoto, the toad wasn't here. Sweet kami, it would have been a lot of pain to prevent Gamakichi from hitting Yamamoto for that insult. Taking in a deep breath, Naru nodded her head at the boy's question. It would have been difficult for her to explain about Gamakichi so for her student's sake, Naru would let him think that the toad had been a toy.

Though how the hell did her student think her summon was a toy was a mystery to her.

"He looked really real," Yamamoto said, looking at the spot where Gamakichi had been with big eyes. "And how did you make your toy disappear, Uzumaki-sensei?"

"It's magic, Yamamoto," Naru lied, rubbing her temple.

"U-Uzumaki-sensei, Y-Yamamoto-kun," Tsuna stuttered. "Are you okay? A-And what just happened?"

Naru blinked her eyes as she watched Tsuna rushed towards them. Her young student looked pale as a ghost as he stared at them and was avoiding her eyes. No, Naru realized as her student looked everywhere but to Yamamoto, her student was avoiding looking at Yamamoto but why? Why would Tsuna want to avoid looking at Yamamoto. Out of everyone in the class except for Gokudera, Yamamoto had been the nicest guy to Tsuna. He had been the only student she had that never called the boy names.

"I got no broken bones but Yamamoto needs to get checked since I'm certain that wasn't a nice landing for him," Naru said, running her hands through her hair. "And as for what happened, well I guess I just got a really big toy to help save me."

Her student raised his eyebrows and looked at her in disbelief but Naru wasn't going to make her students have a heart attack. That boy would freak out if he knew that she could summon toads, especially if they could talk. Kami knew, the boy needed to have some sense of normality especially since Reborn had made it clear to her that Tsuna couldn't have a normal life.

"R-Right, Uzumaki-sensei."

Naru grinned at him but not before gazing at Yamamoto, who was avoiding the gaze from Tsuna. She opened her mouth to say something but decided against it. There was no way she could ask them about their problems, no those two needed to have their own private talk. With that thought in mind, Naru gazed at Yamamoto's broken arm and then to Tsuna before making a decision.

"Tsuna, could you take Yamamoto to the nurse?" Naru asked, causing her students to blink their eyes at her. "I'm no doctor but I know Yamamoto needs to get check with us crashing the way we did...and well, I need to make a few phone calls so could I trust you to take him there?"

Tsuna hesitated before nodding his head. "Y-Yes, Uzumaki-sensei."

"Good. Yamamoto?"

"Yes, sensei?" Yamamoto asked.

"I'm going to have to call your father and tell him what happened. We need to talk about this because what you had planned to do scared the crap out of me and makes me wonder what happened for you to think that suicide was the best answer to your problems."

"Can we not get my old man involved with this?"

"No, because one I don't want this to happen again and two, your father deserves to know about this," Naru explained. "I don't want him to find out about this from someone else and I think the three of us need to have a talk about this risky behaviour of yours."

"Yes, Uzumaki-sensei."

If she ever had kids, Naru thought to herself, she prayed they were less troublesome then those two because at this rate, she was going to go out of her mind with worry for them.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and please tell me what you think about how Naru is in general, whether you liked the way she is or anything really. Also tell me what you think about the scene with Yamamoto.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I want to thank everyone who reviewed this story as well as to everyone who added this story to their favourites and follows.**

* * *

Tsuna furrowed his eyebrows as he gazed down at the set of questions Reborn set for him to revise for the test Uzumaki-sensei decided to set for their class. Was this even middle-school standard? Tsuna wanted to ask the man as he twisted his pen around his finger. It didn't look like it but should he care? He wanted to do well in his test and Uzumaki-sensei always told him that hard questions could sometimes help him to do well in his test.

He wanted Uzumaki-sensei to be proud of him and give him that warm smile that she had been giving to their class more often.

"Is the answer three?" Tsuna asked, flickering his eyes at the set of explosions that was just ready to be pushed by Reborn.

"Wrong," Reborn said, giving him a smirk that just told Tsuna just how much his tutor enjoyed the idea of blowing him up for his mistakes. Just as soon as that thought came to his mind, Reborn pushed down on the handle and it was barely a second later when his bed denoated.

"Where in the world is there a home tutor who uses bombs whenever a student get an answer wrong?" Tsuna couldn't help but ask as his sensei gave him a smirk.

"Right here," Reborn finally answered, earning a groan from Tsuna. "This is just the way I do it, if you think I'll be like Uzumaki then you have forgotten who I am. Besides, didn't you say you were going to study hard for your test to raise your allowance? And how will Uzumaki feel if she find out that her student didn't do well because he lacked motivation?"

"She won't kill me!" He yelled at him. "Uzumaki-sensei isn't violent and she won't say anything about my grades. Besides, Uzumaki-sensei will kill you if she finds out the fact that you've been using explosives as a way to tutor me. At this rate, I'm going to die."

Reborn smirked at him but didn't say anything to contradict his words. As much as Tsuna liked to complain about his tutor, he wouldn't deny the fact Reborn knew Uzumaki-sensei very well. Reborn knew very well his sensei would be disappointed in him if she saw his grades were terrible. If there was one thing Tsuna couldn't stand, it was to see Uzumaki-sensei looking at him in disappointment. She was the only person who believed in him and Tsuna wanted to show her that she was right to believe in him.

"It's hard to disappoint Uzumaki," Reborn said, snapping him from his train of thought.

Tsuna blinked his eyes. "How did y'know what I was thinking?"

"I'm a mind reader."

Tsuna couldn't help but groan at Reborn's words. Seriously, this was his answer to his question? Then again, Reborn's answer made more sense then the explanation Uzumaki-sensei gave him about the huge toad appearing in the middle of school. Kami, did his sensei really believe that he would believe she had a huge toy appear like that? Where would she even keep it? Honestly, when he grew up, he hoped he made believable lies.

Shaking his head, he looked out at the window and blinked his eyes when he caught sight of a black-haired boy holding a gun directed towards them. He glanced wildly at Reborn, who kept his eyes plastered on his textbooks, and then to the black-haired boy. The little boy kept his eyes fixed on Reborn, looking at him with so much hate that Tsuna wondered what the hell Reborn had done to cause so much hate from such a young boy. The second thing which came to his mind was why the hell did that little boy carry a gun?

Wasn't it illegal to give kids guns?

"First, the target is going to be this number," Reborn said, not looking away from his textbook.

"Reborn, there's a weird boy that looks like a cow!" Tsuna said, pointing to the boy. "Look at the window!"

The boy snarled and pulled the trigger, calling out: "Take that Reborn!"

Tsuna waited for the bullet to come out of the gun but nothing happened. He blinked his eyes and stared at the little boy, who blinked his eyes and looked at the gun and frowned. What the hell was going on? Tsuna wondered, wincing as he watched the little boy fall down to the ground from the broken branch. Tsuna rushed to the window, looked down and sighed in relief when he saw that there was no damage to the boy.

"To...Tolerate!" The little boy cried before rushing towards his front door.

The brown-haired boy frowned and glanced at Reborn, who still had his eyes on his textbook. Wasn't he suppose to do something about this? Tsuna couldn't help but wonder as his tutor marked the questions that he should try. This little boy was trying to kill Reborn for some strange reason and while Tsuna didn't like Reborn, he didn't want to see the man die.

He blinked his eyes as he heard his bedroom door being slammed open. Tsuna twisted his head around and groaned as he realized that his mother allowed the little boy into their house without reason. The green-eyed boy grinned at them but Tsuna didn't miss the look of anger in the boy's eyes as he stared at his tutor. What the hell did Reborn do to make that little boy angry? No, wait this was Reborn he was talking about.

Reborn even made Uzumaki-sensei angry and Tsuna hadn't seen his sensei so angry until Reborn came.

"Long time no see Reborn," The little boy declared, pushing the door open. "It's me, Lambo!"

Tsuna glanced at his tutor and asked him. "Reborn, do you know him?"

Ignoring his question, Reborn pointed at the formula in his textbook and said. "Remember this formula, Dame-Tsuna."

The boy, Lambo's eyes darkened at Reborn's words and to Tsuna's shock, the little boy tried to tackle his tutor with a knife in his hand. Reborn didn't even looked away from his book when he slammed his hand against the boy's head, sending him flying into the wall.

"Reborn! He's a little boy!" Tsuna cried, wondering why his tutor was acting so violent to the little boy.

He glanced at Lambo, who pushed himself back up without a problem. Running a hand through his hair, Tsuna couldn't help but notice the fact that even though the boy had been punched severely by Reborn that the boy still looked fine. Either this little boy had a body of steel or maybe Reborn was holding back against the boy but knowing Reborn, Tsuna doubted his tutor was holding back on the little boy.

"That hurt," The boy complained, rubbing his head as he gazed at Reborn with wide, teary, eyes. "I must have tripped over something. I, Lambo-san, five years old from Italy, a hitman from the Bovino Familiga tripped! My favourite food are grapes and candy and I, Lambo-san, who met Reborn at a bar, just tripped-"

Wasn't that sad? Tsuna couldn't help but think as he made a face at the little boy. The little boy just stared at them, gazing at Reborn with curious eyes that Tsuna wondered if there was a reason behind his attacks. No, Tsuna dismissed, the little boy didn't even realized he was hit by Reborn so how the hell could he have a reason behind his attack? It was just his imagination.

The little boy pouted and pulled out a bag from his hair, causing Tsuna to raise his eyebrows at him. He glanced at Reborn, hoping his tutor could explain to him about their current situation but his tutor just ignored him. Maybe, he should follow Reborn's league, Tsuna thought, gazing at the open textbook in the table. He did have a test to study for and Tsuna didn't want his sensei to be disappointed in him.

He lasted five seconds before he checked on the boy again.

The little boy rummaged through his hair, pulling out so many weapons that Tsuna just had to wonder who was stupid enough to give a kid weapons. Tsuna blinked his eyes when he caught sight of a purple bazooka lying on the ground. He glanced at the little boy, who kept glancing at the bazooka as if he was tempted to use it but something kept holding him back from using it.

Maybe the little boy had more sense then he thought.

The little boy grinned and pulled out a gernade from his hair. He glanced at the gernade and then to Reborn, who still had his eyes on the book. Was his tutor ever going to look at the boy? Tsuna wondered, gulping as the little boy kept toying with the gernade. Also didn't anyone tell the boy that a gernade wasn't a toy? No, maybe he could take the gernade away from the boy.

He couldn't have his house explode again.

"Die Reborn!" Lambo yelled, throwing the gernade at his tutor.

Reborn didn't look away from the textbook when he whacked the gernade away, sending it to the boy. The gernade slammed against the boy's cheek, sending him flying towards the trees. That was going to hurt, Tsuna thought, looking out at the window where a huge cloud, which came from the explosion appeared. To his relief and surprise, the boy survived the explosion.

The boy had a couple of brusies on his cheeks and body but other then that, he looked fine.

He blinked his eyes and watched as the boy run away from his house with tears in his eyes.

Tsuna blinked his eyes and looked at Reborn before coming to a decision.

His test could wait but that little boy couldn't wait.

* * *

Running was the only form of training that Naru actually did inside of this town. She didn't have to worry about her students getting confused about why there were so many copies of her or had to think of an excuse on why she could do things she could do. No, she could put on her gravity seals and not worry about why she could run as fast as she could since her gravity seals allowed her to run as fast as a civilians.

Well, if she hadn't gotten used to the seal but when that happened, Naru increased her seal to make sure it didn't happen.

She smiled widely at her fellow runners as she runs through the street path that would lead her to the small river which runs through Namimori. She always runs through the way of the town because there was just something about this path, which just gave her peace of mind and what Naru needed now was peace of mind. With Yamamoto nearly killing himself, Reborn annoying and teasing her whenever she was free and, of course, the talk with Yamamoto's father, all she needed was some time to relax.

She stopped running when she caught sight of a little boy crying his heart out.

Frowning, Naru walked towards the little boy and took a seat beside him. He was a cute little boy, Naru thought to herself as she stared at the boy. With his black puffy hair and bright green eyes, Naru wanted to squeeze the boy tight and comfort him especially since she hated seeing kids sad. It was a crime to see kids sad if you asked her because kids were meant to be happy and if they weren't happy then there was something wrong with the world.

Though, the world wasn't fair to anyone, especially to kids.

"Why are you crying, gaki?" Naru asked him, placing her hand on his shoulder.

The little boy sniffed, looked up at her and blinked his eyes at her before answering. "Reborn was being mean to Lambo-san."

"Y'know Reborn? Is he your Dad?" Naru asked, furrowing her eyebrows at him.

It wouldn't surprise her if Reborn fathered a kid, Naru thought, as the little boy stared at her with such curious eyes. He seemed to be the type to father a kid without knowing it especially since his personality gave her the idea that the man was very experienced. She grimaced. What kind of idiot would do it with that perverted man? After all, he seemed to be the type who didn't do committeed relationship. Kids should come from a couple who were committed to each other but Naru knew that accidents happened.

It wouldn't surprise her if Reborn made a mistake with a woman.

"No," The little boy answered. "Papa is gone...Mama says he went up to the sky to become an angel and look over me."

"And where's your Mama?"

"She's gone," The little boy answered immediately, looking down at his small hands as if he was trying to avoid the memories. "Mama went up to the sky to be with Papa."

Naru felt her heart clenched at the boy's words. "I'm sorry kiddo...I lost my mama and papa when I was young too."

The little boy blinked his eyes and held his hand out for her as if he was trying to comfort her. Naru shook her head and ruffled his hair, causing the little boy to giggle and look at her with such big green eyes that just reminded her of the forests in Konoha. She grinned and tickled the boy, who laughed outloud at her actions, looking so much happier then how she found him.

"You should smile more kiddo and whatever Reborn did, just ignore him because y'know why? He might stop being mean if you just don't listen to him," Naru said softly, staring out at the river. "Besides, if he's being mean to you, you come to me and tell me. I'll sort him out for ya."

The little boy blinked his eyes and tilted his head, before asking innocently. "Are you and Reborn like Mama and Papa?"

"Like Mama and Papa?"

"In love," Lambo explained, looking wide-eyed at her. "Mama used to say that Papa only listens to her because they loved each other."

Naru blinked and blinked her eyes as she tried to process the question the boy asked her. In love? Her and Reborn? That had to be the worst thing she ever heard of. At worse, he was an annoyance but at best, he might be the only real friend she had in this small town. Though, Naru never had a friend who loved to flirt with her or who loved to read through her letters like it was their business. It was a miracle, she hadn't hit him just yet for his actions.

But love?

No, she didn't feel any romantic feelings with the bastard.

"No Lambo," Naru answered, smiling down at the boy. "Reborn is my friend and that is what he'll always be."

She frowned when the boy blinked his eyes at her and gave her a smile that eerily reminded her of someone she knew but for the life of hers, Naru didn't know who he reminded her of. Shaking her head, Naru stared out at the river, closing her eyes as she allowed herself to soak in the quietness of the street. For a brief, moment Naru could imagine herself being back home, surrounded by her friends as they made jokes like they didn't have a care in the world.

"Mama says she and Papa were friends too," Lambo said, blinking his eyes innocently at her. "You and Reborn can be like Mama and Papa."

The blue-eyed woman laughed. "Lambo, your Mama and Papa aren't like Reborn and me. Reborn and I are always going to be friends...your Mama and Papa loved each other very much after they became friends."

"What makes you different from Mama and Papa?"

"For one, I won't ever like a guy like Reborn," Naru declared, giving him a smile. "Second, your Mama and Papa must have got along with each other...Reborn and I don't get along."

Lambo tilted his head. "Mama and Papa used to fight a lot. Well, Mama did...Papa liked seeing Mama angry."

"Your Papa sounds like Reborn," Naru muttered. "I swear the man likes to irritate me."

"Then you'll be like Mama and Papa!"

"Y-No."

"Why?"

How the hell did she explain an adult's relationship to a little kid? Naru wondered as she tried to think of a way to explain her relationship with Reborn to this little boy. She didn't understand why he kept insisting her relationship with Reborn would be like his parents' relationship. Reborn and her would be a terrible couple, after all there were just so many times she wanted to strangle the man. He didn't even listen to her whenever she told him to get out of his office but most of all, he kept butting in her business.

He was the most annoying man she knew.

"Uzumaki-sensei!"

Naru blinked her eyes and twisted her head around, blinking her eyes at the sight of Tsuna standing there with worry in his eyes. She smiled warmly at her student before glancing at Lambo, who stared at the older teen with big wide eyes but Naru didn't miss the look of elation on the boy's eyes. This little boy beside her might just have met Tsuna but he seemed elated to see the boy here.

"You met Lambo, Uzumaki-sensei? He didn't do anything did he?" Tsuna asked, blinking his eyes at her.

Naru frowned. "Was he suppose to? Lambo has been nothing but a good boy, Tsuna."

Tsuna blinked his eyes and looked wildly at Lambo, who stuck his tongue out at her young student. Naru couldn't help but giggle as her student gave the little boy a glare for his rudeness. There was something about their behaviour that reminded her of how Konohamaru used to act around her...well until he realized she was a girl. After that, her little brother-figure thought he was in love with her and demanded she was his girlfriend.

Luckily, Naru had been able to make it clear to him she didn't return his feelings and that there was another girl who liked him.

She should ask Hinata the progresss of her sister's relationship with Konohamaru.

"Why are you here Uzumaki-sensei? And how did you meet Lambo?"

Naru smiled and ruffled Lambo's hair, causing the little boy to smile widely at her. "I was out here for a run when I saw Lambo crying because apparently Reborn was acting like an a...I mean he was being mean to Lambo here. So of course, I couldn't let him cry so I spent time talking to him. By the way, Tsuna, what did Reborn do to Lambo?"

"Lambo was throwing explosives at Reborn and well Reborn threw them back at him," Tsuna explained, rubbing the back of his neck.

Naru sighed and shook her head. "Why am I not surprise he did that? It would be something he would do."

"Uzumaki-sensei?"

Taking in a deep breath, Naru looked at Lambo and asked, "Why were you throwing explosions at Reborn? And how did you meet Reborn?"

"I was wondering about that too," Tsuna agreed, taking a seat beside him.

Lambo stared at them for a good couple of minutes before taking a deep breath. "Boss told me to defeat the super first-class hitman Reborn."

So his boasts about being the best hitman in the world wasn't an exaggeration, Naru thought, running her hand through her hair. If Reborn was a great hitman then why the hell would Lambo's boss send him to kill him? They would need to send someone with more experience and while Naru could tell Lambo wasn't a complete weakling, she knew he wouldn't be enough to kill her friend.

Reborn could kill the boy in his sleep.

She blinked her eyes and felt her blood turned cold as she realized what Lambo's Boss had planned. Didn't the man had any sense of humanity? Was he willing to murder a little boy? Naru gulped and looked at the little boy, who stared innocently right back at her. She knew not everyone had a sense of humanity but Naru never thought she would hear of someone who was willing to kill a little boy.

It made her want to find the man and kill him for his actions.

"I met him in a bar," Lambo explained, looking up at the sky. "We spoke about a lot of things even though it was our first meeting. He was the first adult to listen to me even when I was eating grapes while he made funny noises out of his mouth."

"Funny noises."

"He was snoring!" Tsuna cried, causing Naru to sigh.

Well, this explained so much because Naru doubted the fact Reborn would listen to a boy talked about his dreams. The man didn't have any patience with kids if his treatment of Tsuna was any indication. Kami, she felt sorry for any kid he ever had because his kids would be messed up with the way he parented.

"Well since you stopped crying, I can go back home," Tsuna said, shaking his head. "It's time for dinner."

Naru smiled. "Tell your Mum hi and tell Reborn if I catch him reading through my letters again, I'm going to teach him a lesson."

Her student frowned, tilted his head and opened his mouth to ask her something before shaking his head at her and leaving her alone with Lambo, who stared at the fading figure that belonged to Tsuna. Naru smiled at the little boy, ruffling his hair, which caused the little boy to look up at her with a big smile on his face. She sighed and shook her head.

"Y'know I have another room in my apartment and it gets awfully lonely there."

"Huh?"

"You don't have a home do ya?"

Lambo shook his head.

"Then my home is your home and you can consider me your family."

"Can I call you Kaa-chan?" He asked her, looking at her with hopeful eyes.

Naru blinked her eyes at his question.

Kaa-chan? That wasn't a term Naru was used to hearing. In fact, she had never imagined someone calling her that before. All her life, she always thought of becoming a Hokage, of becoming the best kunoichi in the whole world and of course for a brief time, bringing Sasuke back home but not once did she ever consider being a mother. She wasn't suited for it but this little boy wanted to call her mother.

Maybe, he was the only chance she had to have a kid and it didn't help that she already felt a connection with the kid.

Yes, it wouldn't hurt her if he called her Kaa-chan.

"Sure...you can call me Kaa-chan," Naru said, giving him a smile. "I mean I'm going to take care of you aren't I? And y'know what Lambo? I'm going to be the best Kaa-chan you ever have! Believe it!"

The boy smiled widely at her declaration and Naru decided right then and there that she would do everything in her power to make sure the boy smile at her.

* * *

It was strange seeing his Kaa-chan like this, Lambo thought as he stared at the woman, who he spent most of his life calling mother. He had been nearly three years old when his boss gave him the 10-year bazooka to use. For nearly three years, Lambo used it and each time he would always see a smiling blond-haired woman giving him treats and telling him to be careful with his bazooka. Not once did she ever tell him to stop using it instead, she would smile at him and tell him stories about her home...well his future-self's home.

Lambo didn't call the woman Kaa-chan until last year when his Mama died from a fever. He hadn't thought of going to his aunt or to his boss to help him. No, Lambo's first thought was to go to the pretty woman. So without thinking, he had used the bazooka during his Mama's funeral. Lambo knew it was rude to do it but he wanted someone to hug him, to tell him everything was fine but no one in the funeral would do that.

Though the pretty woman did and since then, Lambo considered her his mother.

Even though he appeared at the strangest times, his Kaa-chan always had a smile on her face whenever she saw him. She would give him hugs, teach him with her own two kids but most of all, she never once looked at him like he was stupid. Everyone in his family thought he was dumb, even his boss because he didn't try to act like a genius inventor like they all acted but Lambo didn't want to be smart.

He didn't want to be the best because his Kaa-chan lost her most important person since he was the best. Kaa-chan never talked about it but Lambo knew his Kaa-chan wished her most important person hadn't been the best. If her most important person wasn't the best then he would still be here with her and her kids but he was the best and he died because of it.

His Kaa-chan didn't know it but when Lambo appeared in the night when she was sleeping, he could hear her calling out his name, asking him to come back and tell her why he never told her the truth. Lambo didn't know what she meant but he guessed it had to be why Sora couldn't go out a lot. His foster sibling was a meanie, just like his father but Lambo didn't understand why he couldn't go out and play with him like Ren. Not that Lambo played with Ren a lot since he only stayed for five minutes.

Still, he was actually going to watch his Kaa-chan fall in love with her important person and for the life of his, Lambo didn't understand how his nice, pretty Kaa-chan fell in love with a meanie.

His Kaa-chan should love a nice man, not a meanie who always ignore him and a meanie who made Kaa-chan sad. If he didn't want his siblings to be born, Lambo would have tried to make his Kaa-chan fall in love with someone nicer than that meanie. How did his Kaa-chan fall in love with that meanie Lambo didn't understand but he was going to try and understand because his Kaa-chan never made a mistake.

His Kaa-chan was also the strongest woman he ever met so the meanie had to be something for him to hurt his Kaa-chan like that.

"Kaa-chan...why are you friends with Reborn? He's mean and you say you want to teach him a lesson."

His Kaa-chan blinked her eyes at him and laughed. "He's very mean isn't he? Hurting you like that and I hate people who hurt kids...so it makes no sense for me to still consider him my friend but, y'know what Lambo? Reborn might not look like it and he might not show it but he can be very caring...in his own way."

Lambo blinked his eyes at hearing this. For the first time today, he actually heard his Kaa-chan say something nice about the meanie. His Kaa-chan complained to Tsuna-niisan about Reborn but this was the first time he heard her say something nice to him. She also looked different when she talked about him. His Kaa-chan didn't have that sad eyes like she had in the future, whenever Ren asked Kaa-chan about the meanie.

His Kaa-chan looked almost happy, annoyed too but happy and Lambo wondered how could you like someone but be angry at them at the same time.

Did it even matter? Lambo could only just watch his Kaa-chan fall in love with the meanie, he wasn't allowed to interfere with it. Despite what people say about him, Lambo wasn't an idiot. If he was an idiot, he wouldn't have been able to figure out who his Kaa-chan was, or the fact that whatever was causing his sibling's pain had to do with the meanie. If he was an idiot, he would have tried to change the future without thinking of what could be.

As much as he wished his Kaa-chan didn't fall in love with the meanie, Lambo knew without the meanie he wouldn't have his siblings. Besides Tsuna-niisan and Kaa-chan, Lambo loved his siblings even if one of them was quite mean to him but Kaa-chan said it was because Sora was jealous of him. Lambo didn't know why his sibling would be jealous of him.

His sibling could, at least, claimed to be related to Kaa-chan...Lambo could never have that.

"Kaa-chan, why would someone fall in love with someone that was going to hurt them?" Lambo asked her, tilting his head at her.

His mother blinked her eyes and frowned. "Why? I don't know why Lambo, I've never been in love so I can't answer your question but I guess it's because they can't help it. Love isn't something that has reason and maybe people fall in love with someone that was going to hurt them because maybe they thought they deserve it."

"But what if they could do better?"

"It doesn't matter if they could do better, Lambo," His Kaa-chan said, smiling softly. "They can't change their heart or feelings. Maybe for them, that love they had was worth the pain they got...because once you love someone, you're willing to do anything for them or that's what I think. Why do you ask?"

"Mama still loved Papa even though he died and left her alone with me," Lambo lied. "Mama cried for days and days but she doesn't hate him even though he caused her pain."

His Kaa-chan smiled. "Maybe, she loved him so much and the memories they had were more good then bad Lambo. He must have made her so happy that to have him leave her like that...it killed her."

Was that why his Kaa-chan loved the meanie? Did that meanie make his Kaa-chan happy? If the meanie made his Kaa-chan happy then Lambo would do everything in his power to get them together. He wanted his Kaa-chan happy, he wanted his siblings to be born but most of all, he wanted to know what it was like to have a father figure in his life.

If his Kaa-chan liked the meanie then wouldn't that make the meanie his Tou-san?

Though Lambo wouldn't stop the mission his boss gave him because as much as Lambo wanted his Kaa-chan happy, he also wanted to make the man pay for hurting his Kaa-chan like that. He wanted the man to suffer for hurting Sora like that because even though Sora was mean, Sora was still his sibling.

Kaa-chan always told him siblings protect each other and Lambo was going to make the man pay for hurting Sora and Ren.

* * *

 **A/N: Please review and tell me what you think. Also please tell me what you think of Lambo? Is he too out-of-character? And what do you think of his relationship with Naru so far? And I know the kids in TYL is overused however the two kids have an importance later on in the plot.**


	8. Chapter 8

"Lambo, you're going to wear that shirt even if it kills you," Naru declared to the pouting little boy, who looked at the sailor uniform in her hand with distaste. She knew it was terrible uniform with how bright it looked but the kindagarden was near her workplace and that was maybe the only reason why she chose the school for him. She couldn't leave him alone in the house and she wanted the boy to have a normal life.

"Why do I have to go to kindagarden Kaa-chan? Can't I go with you to work?" Lambo asked. "Lambo-san doesn't need to go to kindagarden."

Naru rubbed her temple, glanced at the clock and took in a deep breath. "Lambo, you can't be alone in the house and you need to spend time with kids your age."

Lambo frowned and crossed his arms, looking at her with such big sad eyes that Naru was tempted to tell him it was okay for him not to go to kindergarden and she would have, if she didn't know she had no one to watch the little boy. There was no way she could ask her neighbours to watch over Lambo since she didn't trust them with Lambo. She could definitely not ask any of her students for the most obvious reasons. Reborn was a definitely no since Naru didn't want her foster son to be influenced by Reborn.

She could barely deal with one Reborn, there was no way she could deal with two Reborns.

"Please can Lambo-san not go to Kindagarden Kaa-chan!" Lambo cried. "Lambo-san knows everything already! There's no point for the great Lambo-san to go to kindagarden!"

Naru sighed and kneeled down to look at the small boy. "Lambo, there's no one who can look after you while I am at work and while I'm sure y'know everything that's in kindagarden, I want you to make some friends. Y'know it'll make me very happy to see that you've friends."

Lambo stared at her for a good five seconds before reluctantly nodding his head at her. She felt her heart tightened when she saw the pain in his eyes. Maybe she was wrong in letting him go to kindergarden just yet because until three days ago, Lambo was being trained to become an assassin. Could he mix with the kids here without telling everyone about his previous job? But she had no one to take care of him.

If was times like these where she wished she was in Konoha where she could be sure she would have someone watch over him.

"What if they don't like Lambo-sama?" Lambo asked, snapping her from her train of thought. "No one in my family liked me except for Mama...Lambo's boss didn't like Lambo."

Naru took in a deep breath and gazed at the sad eyes of her foster son. "If they don't like you, Lambo then they're a bunch of idiots who don't know what they are missing out because I know Lambo is the nicest, cutest and smartest little boys that they could meet. Your boss is a stupid idiot who doesn't know what is a good thing when it hits him."

"Does Kaa-chan really believe it?"

"Your Kaa-chan will never say anything she doesn't believe in," Naru declared, ticking the little boy's stomach. "She knows her little boy is going to be the most popular boy in kindergarden but Lambo, I want you to make me a promise."

"What?"

"I want you to keep that smile on your face even if those kids say anything mean to you," she said softly, licking her dried lips. "I also want you to make friends with everyone even if those kids tell you to avoid some kids because I don't want you to follow someone without your eyes wide open."

"What does Kaa-chan mean?" Lambo asked, blinking his eyes at her.

"I don't want you to listen to someone or follow people without seeing that person for who he or she is," Naru answered. "I don't want you to decide to hate someone because someone told you and not because they did something that makes you hate them. Can you promise me that, Lambo?"

"If Lambo-sama does it then shouldn't Kaa-chan do the same thing?" He asked her.

"Your Kaa-Chan doesn't hate anyone," Naru answered, smiling in amusement at her foster son.

"Even Reborn?"

"Even Reborn," she said smiling. "Even if he acts mean and says the most annoying things, I still won't hate the man. Besides, he's my friend."

Lambo smiled widely at her words but Naru couldn't help but notice how her sweet charge had a look in his eyes that told her he thought she was lying. She narrowed her eyes at the boy, shook her head and took his small hand. There was nothing going on between Reborn and her, Naru reminded herself, as she walked her foster son through the streets.

There was nothing going on between them.

Sure he flirted with her but he also listened to her whenever she went on a rant. He always came to her office even though she warned him time in and time out that it wasn't appropriate but that was it. Maybe, she spent most of her lunch times with him but that was because there was no way she could eat her lunch with her fellow teachers, who kept either giving her the dirty eye or another funny look. Okay, she might like talking to the bastard but that was because she didn't have to pretend with him.

He was her friend, maybe even her best-friend in this town because until Reborn came to town, Naru hadn't been that close to anyone near her age. Though hell would freeze over when she tell Reborn this because she knew him and she knew Reborn would rub it in her face before telling her something that either made her want to hide in a hole or throw a huge rock at him.

Yes, she would never tell him he was her best-friend in this town.

* * *

Reborn couldn't help but smirk as he stared at his student, who kept glancing around in search for Bianchi, who had declared to everyone in the Sawada household that she was going to kill his student. A mafia boss always needs to be aware of danger and if there was one person he could count on to teach his student to be aware of danger, it would have to be his ex-lover. The woman was the perfect candidate in making sure Tsuna didn't lower his guard with the people around him.

Though, Bianchi was also a problem when it came to other woman, Reborn thought wearily, glancing at Uzumaki, who kept frowning at her student. If Bianchi knew of his friendship witht he young blond teacher, he had no doubt the pink-haired woman would try to hurt his friend even if he told her there was nothing going on between them. As much as he loved teasing the blonde, he didn't want to see her get hurt by Bianchi and while he had no doubt Uzumaki could handle Bianchi without any problem, he didn't want her always putting her guard up.

He would hate to see her bright blue eyes become dull.

"You guys have an hour to complete the test," Uzumaki declared when she handed the test paper to the last student in the back row. "If I see anyone cheating then you can expect to have detention with Hibari after school."

"Sensei, who will be stupid enough to cheat under your supervision?" One of the students asked, smiling widely at Uzumaki. "We all know that you have someway of knowing when someone cheated in their test."

"Yes, I'm your all-knowing sensei," Uzumaki declared, giving the boy a smile. "And your all-knowing sensei knows that you're sweet talking because you are hoping to cut down the time of the test so I will give you guys extra time after school but, sorry kiddo I ain't doing that. If you guys end up losing time or if the bell rings then you will just have to spend an extra minutes of your next teacher's lesson doing this test."

The boy flushed red but didn't say anything to contradict Uzumaki's words.

Reborn shook his head and glanced at his student, who kept flickering his eyes at the corners of the room, no doubt searching for Bianchi. He grimaced. If Tsuna kept acting like this then Uzumaki would start to notice something was wrong and if Uzumaki found out about Bianchi...he was dead meat.

Uzumaki was going to punch him in the face if she found out he was the reason why Bianchi was here and Reborn didn't want to be in the other end of her fist.

Should he warn her? Or should he keep quiet about it? Usually, Reborn would keep quiet about situations like these but he certainly didn't want Naru to get so angry with him that she would punch him in the face. He grimaced. Maybe, he should have thought about this more before he decided to bring Bianchi here. Though, if he mentioned Bianchi was Gokudera's half-sister and lied that the young woman had came here to check on her little brother then maybe he wouldn't get punch.

Hmm, he didn't want to lie to Naru about this after all, if he wanted to find out the truth about Naru then he needed to be honest with her because Naru wouldn't tell him anything if he wasn't honest with her.

He was going to tell her the truth because he wanted his curosity to be sated.

With that thought in mind, Reborn jumped down from the tree and slowly made his way towards Uzuamki's classroom. If there was one good thing that was going to come out from this, it was the fact he get to see the furious look in Uzumaki's eyes when she realized he decided to come to her class.

Taking in a deep breath, Reborn knocked the door and leaned against his foot as he waited for Uzumaki to come out of the classroom. He knew without a doubt the blonde would know he was the one standing out of the door, if not for the fact that he might be the tallest person in this school then it was because one of her students would have noticed the shadows.

"R-Reborn? Why the hell are you disturbing me during my lesson?" Naru asked, narrowing her eyes at him. "If this is about dinner again then I'm telling you that there's no way in hell I'm making another meal for you."

"It isn't about dinner, it's about Tsuna."

Naru blinked her eyes, pursed her lips and crossed her arms. "What about Tsuna? Is it about why he's acting weird?"

"So you noticed."

"He looks like he's waiting for someone to attack," Naru informed him. "Could you please tell me why the hell he is acting like that?"

"My ex-girlfriend wants to kill him."

"Why?"

"She thinks if she kills Tsuna then I'll go back to Italy since I won't have a job."

She stared at him for a good five minutes before rubbing her head. "Y'know I'm not surprise you have a crazy ex-girlfriend."

"She's also Gokudera's half-sister."

"Gokudera has a sister," Naru said, blinking her eyes. "Oh I feel sorry for the boy. Now, why the hell are you telling me this? If she's as crazy as I think she is then she's going to try to kill me because I doubt she'll think we're friends."

"So you consider us friends?" Reborn asked, smiling at the blonde.

"Yes, we're friends," Naru answered, smiling widely at him. "Now what do you want me to do about her?"

"Nothing."

"You just told me she's going to kill Tsuna because of you and you don't want me to do anything about it? Are you insane?"

"This is all part of his training," He explained, leaning against the wall. "He needs to learn to be aware of his surroundings...and I thought Bianchi would be the perfect person to teach him this."

"You did this on purpose, didn't you?" Naru asked, crossing her arms.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't do it on purpose," he answered, quirking his lips at the blonde.

She sighed and run her hand through her hair, a habit that Reborn knew the girl did whenever she was debating over something. In this case, he could guess the young woman was debating whether or not to punch him in the face again. Though if she punched him, he would point out to her that at least this time he warned her about the trouble Tsuna was in...which was different from the last time.

"Can't you call off that insane girlfriend of yours?"

"I could but only temporaily," he admitted. "She'll come back eventually because she believes she's in love with me."

"Obsess with you is more like it," Naru pointed out. "Kami, if this is how she reacts with Tsuna, who is your student, I don't want to think how she will reacts if you want to go out on dates...kami, she might go after me because I'm your friend."

"She won't go after my female friends," he informed her.

"I hope you're right because I've Lambo to look after and I don't want to explain to him why the hell that there's an insane bitch after me," Naru proclaimed, shaking her head. "He might get the wrong idea about it again, and there's no way I want to go through the trouble of explaining to him that my friend has an insane ex-girlfriend."

 _Wrong idea?_ Reborn thought, tilting his hat down. What wrong idea did that small boy have? As much as he disliked Lambo, he knew very well from the limited interactions he had with the boy that there was more to the kid. It was a fact he noticed when he first came to the Sawada household, after all Reborn hadn't missed the inteliigent look in his eyes or how he kept flickering to the ten year bazooka as if debating to go into the future.

A fool would have done it without hesistance but that little brat hadn't done that.

"What wrong idea did Lambo have?"

"Promise me that you won't laugh or even try to kill the brat," Naru said, crossing her arms.

He rolled his eyes but nodded his head at her request. The blonde took in a deep breath, flickering her eyes at him and then to the classroom before finally looking at him. He felt his lips curl into a smirk as he watched the blonde's usual tan skin flushed pink, which suited her very well. What did the cow-brat say for the usually confident woman to flush so red? He leaned in, mentally laughing as the blonde flush an even brighter red.

"He asks me if we were like his Papa and Mama!"

"Like his Papa and Mama?" He asked, smirking at the embarrassed woman.

"If we love each other," she snapped, looking down at her hands. "The brat never seen me with you yet he thought our relationship is like his parents! What the hell gave him this idea? Doesn't he realize just how bad we are for each other? We always argue! How the hell does this make someone in love with each other?"

He wanted to tell her that they didn't always argue or the fact that they weren't bad for each other. She was the only woman who dared to argue with him, the only woman who perked his curiosity and most of all, she was the only person who could still surprise him. It didn't help Naru was one of the most beautiful woman he ever had the pleasure of countering but, Reborn would never tell her that. He could never tell her something she wasn't ready to hear and Reborn knew from the amount of times he talked to this young woman that she had issues with her self-worth.

Instead, he leaned towards the blonde and stared into her bright blue eyes. "He's a kid Naru, he doesn't know any better that a woman and a man could only be friends. Perhaps, he overheard me when I said to Tsuna that you'll never be disappointed in him for his bad grades...maybe that's why he thought we were like that."

"That's a stupid reason," she said, avoiding his eyes.

"True," Reborn said, staring at the pink-faced woman. "But he's a kid and kids generally have an excuse to use a stupid reason."

She smiled at his words, revealing all of her pearly white teeth at him, before flickering her eyes at the classroom. Naru stared at him for a good few seconds, opened her mouth to say something before closing it again. Shaking her head, she softly pushed him away from her and slowly made her way towards the door. Before she opened the door, she glanced at him.

"Y'know Reborn, I think you should show your caring side more...it might attract more girls towards you."

"And why would I want to attract more girls when I have the attention of one beautiful blonde?" He asked, smirking as the blond-haired girl flushed red at his compliment.

"I'll ignore that since I can guess that's the type of thing you say to every female that looks your way," Naru called out. "And thanks for that compliment...y'know it's too bad that your personality ruined your looks."

He blinked and blinked his eyes as he watched the blond-haired woman walked back into her classroom before smirking at the girl's compliment. Whether Naru knew it or not, the girl had just admitted she found him attractive and that was one thing Reborn would never ever let the girl forget.

Though, he would need to see Lambo and get the brat to switch himself with his future self because Reborn knew the brat had a reason for deciding Naru and him were like his Papa and Mama.

* * *

"Boss, you want us to disguise ourselves as students? Why the hell do you want us to do that?" Her clones yelled, glancing at each other with fury. "We already went through the hell of going to school once, don't make us repeat the process again!"

"Because my student is in trouble and I don't trust Reborn to take care of him," she snapped at them. "Besides, it's only for a couple of weeks until I have a handle of Reborn's ex-girlfriend problem. Seriously, what insane man would bring his psychotic ex to hurt his student?"

"Reborn," her clones pointed out. "Though boss, wasn't it a good thing he warn you this time?"

"Yes."

"And it doesn't seem he has any feelings for his ex-girlfriend."

"I think anyone with a brain could tell that."

"Maybe, you should ask him why he dated an insane girl?" Her clones asked as they made the hand-seals needed for the henge jutsu. "I thought a guy like him have more sense then to date an insane girl...not even Sasuke would have dated Karin."

"That's because Sasuke had more sense then to date an insane girl like my cousin and besides he always had feelings for someone else during his trip," Naru said at her clones, who blinked their eyes at her. They scowled and shook their heads at her before brushing past her, making their way towards the door. She finally relaxed when the last of her clones finally close the door.

 _Why the hell does Reborn do insane things to train Tsuna?_ Naru wondered, grabbing a piece of paper from her bag. _Why couldn't he do things the normal way? Why bring an insane ex to teach Tsuna? And shouldn't the insane ex-girlfriend care about her brother more then her ex-boyfriend? If I had a brother like Gokudera living in a foregin country by himself, I would be trying to find out where he lives and make sure he's alright. I'll try to bring Gokudera back home, not try to kill some innocent boy so I could bring back my ex._

She shook her head and glanced at the photos of her friends, wondering for the first time in her life if she made the best decision in leaving home. She might have been suffocating in Konoha but Naru had her friends there, she had people worried for her but she decided to leave the village instead of being there for her friends. She licked her dried lips and looked at the photos of her old team and then looked out at the window, where she could see members of the disciplinary committee patrolling the area.

" _You're starting to regret leaving the village now, brat?_ " Kurama said, snapping her from her train of thought. " _It's funny how you decided to start regretting leaving when things finally started getting interesting in this small boring town._ "

" _Interesting? From the moment Reborn came to this town, things had also been crazy!"_ Naru yelled at the fox, tightening her grip on her pen. " _My sweet innocent student is now being forced to become a part of the Mafia. I've another student who seems to have parents issue, which wouldn't be a big deal if it weren't for the damn fact he also carries a bomb with him. Another student of mine nearly decided to kill himself and don't get me started on the damn fact this man caused his ex-girlfriend to come here so my student could become paranoid! I didn't think any of this will happen."_

" _Really now? I think you did when you met the raven-haired bastard for the first time ,_" Kurama sniggered. " _B esides if it weren't for said raven-haired bastard, you wouldn't have a kid to look after and I know how much you love that kid._"

" _It doesn't change the fact he brought his insane ex-girlfriend here,"_ Naru snapped.

" _Is someone jealous that he still talks to his ex?_ "

" _Y'know Kurama, I'm starting to think that being caged inside of me has made you crazy,"_ Naru said, crossing her arms. " _Why the hell will I be jealous? It's nice that he's talking to his ex and everything but I don't like the fact he's putting Tsuna in danger."_

" _He's teaching the brat not to be so gullible,_ " Kurama said and Naru bet the fox was grinning at her. " _Not everyone has a heart like yours or believe in kind love. No, that man believes in tough love and I respect him for that...that was something you needed when you were being a brat._ "

" _I always had tough love! I never had someone not being harsh on me...except maybe the old man."_

" _Whatever you say brat ,_" Kurama yawned. " _Though I still say you're soft on that boy but I don't blame you, the brat looks exactly like your father did when he was his age._ "

" _Really? Tsuna looks like a younger version of my father? I can't see it."_

" _Of course you can't see it because you never knew what your father looked at the age of fourteen ,_" Kurama snapped. " _I would know because of the damn fact your mother used to hang around your father a lot, pretending that she didn't like him when it was obvious with anyone with a brain that she likes him._ "

" _How old were my parents when they got together?"_

" _Fifteen,_ " Kurama answered without a heartbeat. " _T he day your mother started dating your father was the worst day of my long life...which was saying something since I was also stuck in Mito._"

" _Are you trying to tell me something?_ "

" _Yes, give me a warning when things starts getting hot and heavy for you and that Reborn._ "

Naru blinked her eyes, clenched her hands into a fist and wished not for the first time in her life that she could punch the fox for his comments. " _Kurama if you know what is good for you, you'll shut your mouth or I'll personally try to find a way to cut your tongue out of your mouth. What you just said to me had to be one of the most embarrassing and weirdest things you ever told me. Why the hell do you think I'll even look at that bastard in that way?"_

" _Because you constantly think about the man ,_" Kurama said slowly. " _And until he came here, I didn't think I would hear you laugh or even make a real smile anymore, a fact that all of your students had noticed. Also, don't think I don't know the fact that you don't secretely enjoy your talks with the man. Face it, you like him._ "

" _Right, y'know if I could...I would try to send you to the mental hospital because Kurama, you're starting to sound crazy."_

" _When you realize that I was right, I won't hesitate in telling you I told you so! "_

Right, she needed to make more friends because clearly Kurama was losing his mind because hell would freeze over before Naru would ever consider Reborn in a romantic way.

* * *

 **A/N: Please review**.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter as well as to everyone who added this story to their favourites and follows.**

* * *

"So you're telling me that the ex-girlfriend thing has been handled," Naru said to Reborn as the two of them walked towards Lambo's kindergarten. Normally, she would tell the man not to follow her. She didn't want Lambo to get the wrong idea about Reborn and her. If Reborn was with her when she picked the boy up then her son would get the wrong idea but today was going to be an exception to that rule. Reborn got rid of his ex-girlfriend, which meant that Tsuna was going to be safe and she didn't have to worry about explaining to her son why some insane girl wanted to kill her. This was going to be Reborn's reward.

It also didn't help she didn't want to be late in picking up Lambo from the kindergarten.

"Yup."

"How the hell did you get rid of her?" Naru asked him as she placed her hands into her pockets. "I thought you said that she was obsessed with you. How the hell can you get a girl who is obsessed with you to leave you alone?"

Reborn smirked and tilted his hat at her, causing the blond-haired woman to pout. Damn it, weren't they friends? Shouldn't he have the decency to tell her how he got rid of his crazy ex? No, wait shouldn't she be concerned on how he got rid of the woman? Now while Naru didn't like obsessed stalkers, she did worry about the well-being of her students. Wouldn't it have been better for Gokudera to have his sister by his side?

Although thinking about it, Naru didn't want Gokudera to pick up his sister's bad habits.

"I told her I wanted to eat an eel," Reborn finally answered. "So knowing Bianchi, she's going to try to find me an eel to eat."

Stopping in front of the kindergarten gates, Naru twisted her body around and blinked her eyes. "Are you serious? You told your insane ex that you wanted to eat eel and she left just like that? She does realize you could buy some here in the supermarket right?"

"I never said that Bianchi is the wisest person," He pointed out to her. "She'll be back in a couple of days time but it'll be enough time for Tsuna to have some form of a normal life."

Naru rolled her eyes. "If you want him to have some form of a normal life then don't invite your insane ex here."

"If I didn't know any better, I would think you're jealous Uzumaki."

Naru twisted her whole body around and stared at the smirking black-haired man in front of her. Was he actually being serious? Why the hell would she be jealous of his insane ex? She was a famous kunoichi, a hero in her own right. Why would she be jealous of some woman she never met? She shook her head and watched as Reborn curled his lips into a smirk.

What the hell was he thinking?

"So Uzumaki, why haven't you ever went on a date?" Reborn asked her, snapping her out of her train of thought.

Naru blinked her eyes at him, pursed her lips before admitting, "No one ever considered going out with me or if they did, I knew they didn't really have any feelings for me. Besides, I thought I was in love with someone and I thought they loved me back but...I was wrong. I was being an idiot and presumed he liked me in that way."

She thought Sasuke loved her but he didn't really love her because if Sasuke did love her then he wouldn't have gone on that journey of his without telling her goodbye. She clenched her hands into a fist as she remembered the tear stains on Sakura's face as the pink-haired girl told her that Sasuke left the village again. If Sasuke loved her then wouldn't he have told her? Why tell Sakura and not her? She relaxed her fists and shook her head.

She was a fool for thinking like that but, Naru learnt a lesson that day. She learnt never to expect anything from him and that there was perhaps very little chance for her to fall in love with someone in the village.

"You're not the idiot, Uzumaki, he is," Reborn said, tilting his hat at her. "What isn't there to like about you? You're a beautiful woman who knows how to crack jokes, which is more than what I can say about some of the girlfriends that I had."

Then why date them if they couldn't crack a joke? Naru wondered, pressing her hands into her pockets. Normally, she would presumed that Reborn continued to date them because he loved them but Naru knew the hitman very well. If there was one emotion she doubts the man could feel, it was love. Honestly, he dated four girls, maybe even more, and had never settled down.

It was quite concerning if you asked her.

If you asked one of her friends then they would say he hadn't found the right girl for him.

"Thanks, Reborn," Naru said, smiling at him. "But Sasuke isn't the type who likes to crack jokes. For as long as I could remember that man had never made a single joke. You could ask him if you're being an idiot and he'll tell you straight up that you are. You could tell Sasuke secrets and expect him to keep it but, you can't tell him to make a joke. He isn't the type to make jokes."

"Then why did you like him?" Reborn asked, staring at her.

Naru shrugged her shoulders. "He was one of the first people to accept me for who I am and he was one of the first people who took me seriously. I couldn't help but like him for that. I liked him because even though he was an ass, he was an ass with a heart. I couldn't help but like him for that."

She couldn't help but like him, Naru thought, walking through the school gates. The more time she spent with him, the more she found herself falling for him. It was stupid that it happened. She swore to herself when she saw that almost all of the girls in their class liked him that she wouldn't do the same thing. She was a serious kunoichi. She wasn't here to fall in love.

She was a fool to think she had some control over her emotions.

"Did you ever tell him that you liked him?" Reborn asked, snapping her from her train of thought.

Naru shook her head. "No, I never told him and I never will."

"Why not?"

"He's dating my friend," Naru answered, smiling widely at him. "I'm not going to ruin my friend's happiness by telling him that I liked him. It'll bring a lot of pain and the last thing I want is to hurt her...besides, there's no point of me telling him that I liked him when I know I'm going to be rejected."

"Is he the reason why you left?"

Naru blinked her eyes at Reborn but the raven-haired man just stared at her. Did he really think she was the type of woman to leave her home because of some guy? She was so many things but Naru wouldn't have left the village because of Sasuke. She wasn't a desperate woman. Just because she had never dated doesn't mean she had low self-esteem.

Shaking her head, Naru answered. "Do you think I'm weak, Reborn? I'll never leave my home because of a man. I may like him but Reborn, I won't ever leave my home because of him. I worked so hard to get to where I am! I won't ever leave my home because of him!"

"If it wasn't for a man then why did you leave?"

"Like I said before: it is a secret," Naru hissed.

He stared at her for a good minute before nodding his head at her. This wouldn't be the last time that Reborn would question her about it but hopefully, it would be a while before he asked her again. She didn't want to explain her reasoning on why she left home. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Naru walked inside the kindergarten with Reborn tailing after her.

She stopped walking when she caught sight of Lambo talking animatedly with his teacher, who had a huge smile on her face. Naru smiled widely when her foster son stopped talking to his teacher and rushed towards her with a happy smile on his face.

"Kaa-chan!" Lambo cried, wrapping his small arms around her legs. "You're finally here!"

Naru ruffled her son's hair. "Have you been a good boy to your teacher, Lambo?"

"Yup, Lambo-sama has been a good boy just like he promised Kaa-chan," Lambo declared, giving her a smile.

His teacher smiled widely at her before glancing at Reborn, who was standing right beside her. There was something about this girl's eyes that gave her a bad feeling. That look in her eye reminded her of something but Naru couldn't remember why that look so familiar to her. Shaking her head, Naru nodded her head at the girl.

"Uzumaki-san, is this Lambo's Tou-san?"

Did she just ask…

She did, didn't she?

"No, this is my friend," Naru answered, smiling widely at the girl. "He decided to come with me to pick up my son."

"He's your friend?" The girl asked, raising her eyebrows as she stared at her and then to Reborn before shaking her head.

Did this girl just doubt her?

If Naru didn't want Lambo to get confused, she would correct the girl's doubts. Why the hell would she date Reborn? He was an asshole, who didn't give a damn about his student. Kami, her student nearly died because Reborn told his ex-girlfriend to come here. What the man did was the most reckless thing to do.

"Mama and Reborn are very good friends," Lambo said, snapping her from her train of thought. Naru blinked her eyes and her eyes softened when she saw the happiness in her son's eyes. This was why she couldn't disagree with the woman. If Lambo thought she and Reborn weren't friends then the boy might start to dislike Reborn.

If there was one thing she didn't want for her foster son, it was to learn to hate someone.

A five-year-old was too young to learn to hate.

* * *

Taking a seat on the couch, Reborn watched as Uzumaki ushered Lambo towards his bedroom to get changed. Normally, he would have left Uzumaki with the boy as soon as they entered the apartment but he needed to check something with Uzumaki. The woman was the only one with the most contact with the boy. If the woman hadn't come to Namimori, Lambo would have been easy access.

"So why did you came here into the apartment?" Naru asked him as soon as she stepped out of Lambo's bedroom with the little boy following her heels. "Y'know how much I don't like being in the apartment while Lambo is here so why did you come?"

"Maybe I just want to spend more time in your company," Reborn answered. "I feel like we haven't spent enough time with each other, Uzumaki."

Uzumaki snorted. "You spent most of my lunchtime in my office, annoying me about Tsuna's grades and asking me what he needs to improve on. I think we spend more time than enough time with each other. Now tell me the real reason why you're here."

 _Not enough time if you asked me,_ Reborn thought, staring at the bright blue eyes of the blond-haired woman. If he hadn't had a job to take care of Tsuna, he would have tried to spend more time with her. Out of all the woman he knew, he could probably relate to Uzumaki the most. She was perhaps one of the few women he knew who didn't take his bullshit.

"It's between Lambo and me," Reborn answered honestly.

Uzumaki raised her eyebrows at him before glancing at Lambo, who blinked his eyes at him. The little boy looked shocked but Reborn hadn't missed the weariness in his eyes. What did the boy know that he didn't know? Reborn thought, staring at the little boy's emerald eyes. Was there something in the future that he needed to know? Was something going to happen to his student? He needed to know how to prepare his student.

"And I should know what it is," Uzumaki said, crossing her arms over her chest and her eyes flashed red as she stared at him. "Lambo is under my care and if this affects him then I deserve to know! If his family wants him then I deserve to know because I ain't allowing him to go back to them."

Reborn blinked his eyes at her. Did she really think he would do that to her? The moment the boy came to Japan and failed to kill him, his fate was already decided. If he hadn't thought Lambo had the potential to be Tsuna's guardian then he would have killed the boy for thinking he could murder him. The Mafia wasn't a place where the weak could survive and in Lambo's current case, the boy was weak.

"Lambo-sama's family doesn't want him," Lambo spoke, drawing their attention to them. "Mama is dead, Papa is dead. Lambo-sama isn't useful to them so why would they want him back? Lambo-sama isn't good enough to them. Lambo-sama knows that he is annoying and that his familiga wants to kill him by making it look like an accident."

So the boy knew the truth? Reborn thought, staring at the solemn eyes of the little boy. A couple of weeks ago, he hadn't believed the boy could say something like this but now looking at him, he could believed it. If he was a kinder man, he would pity the boy but pity wouldn't allow the boy to survive in this world.

"Lambo-kun, you don't know that."

"Kaa-chan, Lambo-sama is young but he knows the truth about his familiga," Lambo answered, staring right at him. "Kaa-chan, my familiga only cares about the genius and Lambo-sama isn't a genius. Lambo-sama doesn't want to be a genius. Mama lost Papa because he was a genius."

There was something in the boy's eyes that told him that there was more to the story. There was a meaning in his words that brought chills to Reborn's bones. It became more apparent when the boy fixed his eyes on him as if he was telling him a secret message. Was he trying to tell him that Naru was going to lose him? Because while Reborn cared for Naru, he wasn't in a relationship with her.

Still, he didn't like where this talk was going.

"Lambo-kun, there's nothing wrong with being a genius," Uzumaki said softly, staring at the little boy. "It just means people have a higher expectation for you. You shouldn't hide who you are because you're afraid of what's going to happen. Your Mama wouldn't want you to pretend to be something you're not."

"Lambo-sama used to hear his Mama cry out his Papa's name," Lambo said, curling his lips and rubbing his eyes as tears leaked out of his eyes. Uzumaki's eyes soften at Lambo's words. "Lambo-sama doesn't want Mama to cry because he was one of the best. Papa died because he was the best in his job."

Lambo's father was a genius inventor, Reborn thought, remembering the rumors about the little boy's father. The man had been one of the best inventors that the Mafia had ever seen. He remembered Verde being interested in taking the young man as one of his apprentices. Lambo's father had been one of the best but there were rumors that he was obsessed with his inventions.

It wasn't the Mafia that killed Lambo's father but his own invention.

"Lambo, your father's death wasn't because of the fact he was a genius," Uzumaki said, kneeling down at the little boy. "I don't know how he died but I'll bet my money it wasn't because he was a genius."

Lambo stared at Uzumaki with tear-filled eyes before slowly nodding his head at the woman. Taking a deep breath, the little boy stared at him before staring at Uzumaki. There was pain and doubt in his eyes and Reborn knew the boy wouldn't believe a word the woman said. It would be a long time before Lambo would believe in Uzumaki's words but, if Uzumaki persisted then the boy may believe him.

"Now Reborn what do you want to talk to Lambo about?" Uzumaki asked.

"I want to talk with him in private," Reborn answered, fixing his eyes at Uzumaki. "I know you want to know what I'm talking about with Lambo but this is Mafia business. The boy may be under your care but he is still a part of the Mafia, whether he likes it or not."

"I deserve to know…"

"Lambo-sama will talk to Reborn in his room," Lambo said, stopping Uzumaki before she could protest. "Kaa-chan, Lambo has something to say to Reborn in private and Kaa-chan shouldn't know about it. Kaa-chan isn't a part of the Mafia."

"Lambo-kun, I don't want you to get involved with this," Uzumaki said, running her hand through her hair. "You're too young to get involved with this stuff."

Lambo stared at Uzumaki with solemn eyes. "Lambo-sama doesn't have a choice about the Mafia. Lambo-sama was born in the Mafia and can't leave the Mafia unless he dies. Lambo-sama's boss told him that as long as his father's blood flows in him then he'll never ever leave. Lambo-sama doesn't like it! Lambo-sama wish he can have freedom!"

"Lambo…"

"Lambo-sama's freedom is with Kaa-chan," Lambo declared, smiling widely at the woman. "Kaa-chan loves me and allows me to go to school! Kaa-chan doesn't make me study! Kaa-chan is the reason why Lambo-sama can have fun and be a kid."

Uzumaki smiled widely at hearing this but Reborn didn't miss the pain in the young woman's eyes. The woman was so attached to the boy, Reborn thought, watching as the woman pulled the little boy into a hug. Lambo had been in her care for just two weeks but already, the hitman could see the woman had a strong bond with a boy.

It made him wonder what Lambo's future self was like.

* * *

"What does Reborn want to talk to the great Lambo-sama about?" The little boy asked as soon as Reborn locked the door. There was a weariness, anger and pain in the boy's eyes that told him just how deeply involved the boy was with the Mafia. Reborn stared at the little boy, wondering how he could word it to the boy properly. If he didn't know Uzumaki would break the door, he would try to make the little boy cry to bring out his future self.

"I want to talk to your future self," Reborn answered, staring at the boy. "I need to know if there is anything I need to prepare for Tsuna."

The little boy stiffened and stared at him. "You want to change the future? Lambo-sama doesn't think that it's a good idea. Reborn is one of the best hitman and one of the smartest men in the Mafia. Reborn must know changing the future could make the future worse."

"It could also make the future better," Reborn pointed out, staring at the boy. "You want to make the future better don't you? You must know what the future is like and I know from looking at you that the future isn't as nice as it is."

He was bluffing his way through this but Reborn did have some idea that the future wasn't good. He knew from the way the boy's body stiffened at his wording that the boy didn't like the future. If he used this knowledge against the boy then he would know why young Lambo had been acting weird.

"Lambo-sama doesn't want the future to change," Lambo said softly. "If the future changes then Lambo-sama won't see his family. Lambo-sama loves his family even if his family is in pain. If Reborn change the future then will Lambo-sama still have his family? Will Lambo-sama still have Kaa-chan?"

Why wouldn't he have Uzumaki? Reborn thought, staring at the worried eyes of the little boy. Uzumaki would never abandon the boy. It was obvious from looking at the two of them that Uzumaki adored the little boy. Honestly, the woman hadn't corrected the boy's teacher because she didn't want him to experience a fight. Uzumaki might not have said it but it was obvious she was irritated with his teacher.

"Uzumaki would never leave you Lambo," Reborn informed him. "Uzumaki isn't like your mother. Your mother was a woman who couldn't stand the idea of your father not being there for you or her. Uzumaki is a lot stronger than your mother."

"Kaa-chan isn't always strong," Lambo said, clenching his hands into a fist. "Kaa-chan loves just as deeply as Mama did, maybe even more then Mama did!"

"Uzumaki isn't the type to depend on a person," Reborn informed the little boy. "Uzumaki may look fragile but your Kaa-chan is one of the strongest women I ever met. Uzumaki won't ever let herself fall apart and even if she did, you would be enough to keep her going. Uzumaki loves you more then life itself."

This was a fact that Reborn knew the boy needed to hear. He knew the woman was willing to sacrifice herself for this boy and would do anything to make sure Lambo lived a happy life.

"If Lambo-sama lets you talk to future Lambo-sama, will Reborn promise not to change his Kaa-chan future?" Lambo asked.

Why the hell would he change Uzumaki's future?

"If it doesn't affect Tsuna then I won't try to change the future."

"You won't tell Kaa-chan who the future Lambo really is?"

"Even if I did, I doubt your mother would believe me."

The boy nodded his head and without a second thought, he pulled out a bazooka out of his hair. Reborn crossed his arms and watched closely as the boy placed the bazooka over his head and pulled the trigger, releasing a cloud of purple smoke. This was perhaps the only thing he needed to confirm what was happening with the young boy.

Reborn kept his face blank as the smoke faded and revealed the future Lambo. He didn't want to know why in the future the boy had an apron around his lap or why he had a child's math book in his hand. This was just one of the few things he didn't want to know the future or didn't care about.

The black-haired boy rubbed his temple and looked around the room. "If I'm back at my old bedroom then that means I'm ten years in the past again! What the hell was my younger self thinking? Kaa-chan told him the last time that it wasn't a good idea to do it! She warned him that the future wasn't as nice as she let him think it was."

"Your younger self switched places with you at my request," Reborn said, drawing the young man's attention to him. He watched carefully as the older Lambo's eyes widened in shock before fading into a tense smile. This Lambo didn't seem to like him but unlike the younger Lambo, this one was trying to hide his displeasure of seeing him. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Adult Lambo."

Adult Lambo grimaced. "Why did you want my younger self to switch places with me? Do you realise just how busy I was? Oh god, Kaa-chan is going to kill me when she finds out that my younger self and me switch places again."

"If you tell her that I made you guys switch places then she'll blame me and not you," Reborn said, dismissing the boy's worries. "Now let's cut to the chase, what the hell happened in the future? Your younger self has been acting strange ever since he came here."

"Strange how?"

"He asked your Kaa-chan if we were in love with each other," Reborn said, narrowing his eyes at the young men. "Now I'll normally ignore it because he was young, however, I notice the way your younger self seem to be staring at your mother and me as if he knew something I do not. I haven't missed the sadness in his eyes, which makes me wonder if something has happened in the future for him to react like that."

"Perhaps," Adult Lambo said vaguely, staring deeply into his eyes. "However, it has nothing to do with Tsuna-niisan if that is your concern. Tsuna-niisan is doing fine as far as I'm concerned."

"As far as you're concerned?"

"Tsuna-niisan doesn't allow me to take an active part in the Mafia," Adult Lambo explained, rolling his eyes. "Which is stupid because I've been a hitman since I was four, which is a lot longer than that stupid Gokudera. I have the most experience compared to them but he won't let me do anything...and don't tell Kaa-chan about this. If she knows that I'm complaining about it then she'll skin me alive."

 _How can I tell her when I'm ten years in the past?_ Reborn thought, staring unimpressed at the adult form of the boy. The boy may be smart but he made one of the silliest requests he ever heard. He didn't want to tell Uzumaki about something that wouldn't happen until the distant future. That was fine because Reborn doubt he would remember something as small as this.

"Then why is your younger self so concerned?"

"If there was one thing about me that is still the same, it is the fact that we hate seeing Kaa-chan sad," Adult Lambo said, staring at him. "Knowing my younger self, he probably heard Kaa-chan crying over the death of her husband and the secrets he kept from her. I would like to say that my younger self is trying to think of a way to change the future in order for Kaa-chan to live happily with her husband and their kids."

"Uzumaki got married?"

Why didn't he like the idea of Uzumaki being married? Reborn thought, staring at the solemn eyes of the boy. Adult Lambo nodded his head and took a seat on the small bed, gazing out at the posters that Uzumaki plastered on the wall.

"Yeah, she'll get married in the next couple of years," Lambo said softly. "I didn't like him but then again I never ever liked any man who stared at Kaa-chan. In my opinion, no one is ever good enough for her. However, I'll admit he treated her better than any man treated her. Did Kaa-chan tell you about Sasuke-ojiisan?"

"She told me she thought she loved him but it turned out he loved their teammate," Reborn answered. "Is he your Kaa-chan's husband?"

Adult Lambi snorted. "That bastard? He doesn't deserve to be Kaa-chan's friend, little alone marry her! I'm not telling you who her husband was but I'll tell you that the bastard didn't tell her everything when they got married. Do y'know how much her family suffered because of him? Her oldest and only son can't go out because of him! Y'know my little brother used to love going out and being able to train under my mother but now he's forced to train inside! His home has literally become his prison!"

"Why do you blame the father?"

"Because he inherited the same illness as him," Adult Lambo snarled, clenching his hands into a fist. "We hadn't known about it until the day he died. Do you know how much it hurt my mother to know that she couldn't save her own child from it? Kaa-chan could save people from missing nin, could beat up thugs without a problem, scared the crap out of one of the toughest hitman but she couldn't heal her own son. Do you know how hard it is for her? She's constantly worried about him."

'What do you want me to do about it?"

"You can't do anything about it," Adult Lambo declared, rubbing his chin. "If you changed anything then Sora and Ren won't be born. As much as I want Kaa-chan not to get hurt from this, I'm also selfish. I want my siblings to be born because they're the reason why I want the Mafia to change. They're the reason why I never once complained to Tsuna about his treatment towards me because I don't want them to experience loneliness."

"You really love your siblings don't you?"

Adult Lambo smiled. "If you met them Reborn, I've no doubt that Sora would have you wrapped around his tiny pinky. Y'know Sora and Ren are my Kaa-chan and her husband pride and joy. As Kaa-chan would say, they're the only physical reminder that she has of her husband."

Hearing this, Reborn knew that whoever Uzumaki married was someone that she truly loved to death. If her husband died then it must have killed her because Reborn knew a woman like Uzumaki loved strongly. He knew that much from seeing her interact with her students in Namimori knew it from the way she wanted to protect Lambo from his ex-familiga.

"I just have to wonder why Uzumaki decided to name her son after the sky."

Adult Lambo just stared at him before shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know but knowing Kaa-chan, the name must have an important connection to her."

Why would she name her son after the sky? Reborn thought, staring at the black-haired boy. He knew Uzumaki was a strange woman but he would never think that the woman would give such a unique name to her child. However, it was better than giving her child a name to do with ramen. With the woman's obsession with ramen, it wouldn't surprise him if she tried to name her kid after a ramen topping.

He wondered what Uzumaki's husband had to do to prevent her from naming the kid after a ramen topping.

* * *

"Uzumaki-sensei, you wanted to talk to me?"

Naru blinked her eyes and placed her letter in the drawer as Tsuna shuffled into her office. The young boy looked so terrified that Naru couldn't help but want to hug the boy and reassure him that everything was going to be fine. She wasn't a very maternal person but there was something about Tsuna, Lambo and her class that brought that side of her out. Shaking her head, Naru stared at the nervous boy.

"I want to talk to you about your mental well-being or something like that," Naru said, gesturing to the boy to take a seat. "I heard from Reborn that he invited his crazy ex to try to kill you."

"He told you about that!" Tsuna cried, slumping his shoulders. "You believed him? Didn't you think he was joking? N-not that I'm not happy that you believed him but what made you believe him? Didn't you think he was being insane?"

Naru snorted at her student's words and placed her hands on the table. "Of course, I believe him Tsuna. Reborn is a man that is insane enough to do something as stupid as this because he thinks it will make you stronger. Honestly, if I didn't know it won't do any good, I would punch the bastard in the nose and tell him not to bring any insane ex to the town."

Tsuna smiled timidly. "S-So what do you mean by my mental well-being?"

"Tsuna, from what I heard from Lambo and Reborn, I know that it has been decided that you'll be the Juudaime of the Vongola familiga," Naru said, staring seriously at her student. "I don't know what it's like Tsuna but I can imagine that you're stressed out from this. I can also imagine that you feel frustrated because from the sound of things you don't seem to have a choice on the matter."

"I'm not going to become Juudaime," Her student said, clenching his hands into a fist. "Uzumaki-sensei, I don't want to be in the mafia! I don't want to be the boss! I just want to have a normal life. Can't you tell Reborn this? I don't want to have any part of it...it isn't fair."

Naru sighed. She had expected to hear this from him and to be honest, Naru would have been very concerned if this timid boy decided to be a part of the Mafia. She didn't know much about the Mafia but she had enough understanding it was like the Yakuza. She rubbed her temple. Why did this role have to be given to this boy? Shouldn't he be given a choice in a matter as big as this? She licked her dried lips and shook her head.

Life wasn't fair to anyone but it always seemed to be more unfair to good people. Naru knew this very well. It wasn't until a year after Itachi's death that they had found out the truth of Sasuke's family massacre. For most of his life, Itachi had been seen as a murderer without any regard to family and duty, when it was the furthest thing from the truth. She knew it was unfair from the fact that Sasuke's mother was murdered even though she had been a kind person to her.

She knew very well that life wasn't fair.

"I can't tell Reborn because believe it or not Tsuna, that man doesn't listen to me," Naru said, releasing out a sigh. "Besides as far as I know, Reborn also has no say on who is to become boss. You'll need to talk to the person who is in charge of the Vongola family, about this. But Tsuna, tell me why don't you want to be the boss? You'll get power, fame, and money...those are things that most boys your age dream of."

"The mafia is filled with bad people aren't they?" Tsuna asked, glancing down at his hands. "I don't want to be bad, I don't want to do things that will hurt people Uzumaki-sensei. Besides, I'm not fit for the role! Look at me, Uzumaki-sensei, I can't lead people!"

"You're right about most things but I need to correct you on one thing Tsuna," Naru said, smiling gently at the young boy. "You can lead people. There's something about you that draws people to them...I mean look at Gokudera and Yamamoto. Those two boys follow you around and make sure you're safe. Y'know how I control Gokudera? I just have to mention your name and he'll do what I ask. When Yamamoto smiles, he does it with sincerity and that makes me happy because I want everyone to smile like that. He isn't smiling like that because of me but, because of you. They listen to you Tsuna and I know you've the potential to be a good leader."

"Sensei…"

"As for the Mafia being filled with bad people well I won't argue against it," Naru said, smiling at the boy. "But there is one thing that you can do...do y'know what you can do?"

"No, Uzumaki-sensei."

"You can change it," Naru said, staring seriously at the boy. "Y'know you're in a lucky position when you think about it. You're going to become the boss of one of the most important Mafia familiga, which means you're in a position where you can change it."

"I just don't want it Uzumaki-sensei."

"I know Tsuna," Naru said, taking in a deep breath. "And I wish I can be of any help but I'm afraid that I don't carry the power to stop these things from happening. However I wish that I had the power because you deserved the choice for things like this."

"It isn't your fault Uzumaki-sensei."

No, it's your father's fault, Naru thought, staring at her student's warm brown eyes. He could be the heir, couldn't he? But there was something stopping the boy's father from taking responsibility. Naru clenched her hands into a fist. What kind of father gave their child such a huge burden? She hated fathers who didn't let their kids have a choice. She hated fathers who allowed their child to pick up their mess.

Most of all, she hated the fact she couldn't save those kids.

* * *

 **A/N: Please review and tell me your thoughts about this chapter. In the next chapter, you'll see Bianchi and Naru meeting.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I know it had been a long time since I updated but this chapter was very difficult for me to write since I don't know where I wanted it to go.**

* * *

Naru stared blankly at the new letter she recieved from Sakura before looking at her son's sleeping face. When would her teammate learn how to be subtle? She might not be as smart as Reborn or Sasuke but she knew how to read behind the lines. Did she really believe telling her about her new found relationship with their male teammate would bring her back? Or even the fact he was back home was enough to pack her stuff and come here? She had a life now filled with kids who still needed her guidance. No amount of new news or emotional language would make her leave this place.

She pulled the photo from the envelope, noticing the smile on Sakura's face and the scowl on Sasuke's face. Shouldn't he be happy to be back and in a relationship with their teammate? When they had been genins, he made it clear to them that he had only two goals. One of them had been to kill his brother while the other one was the resurrection of his clan. He was closer to fulfilling the second goal so why wasn't he happy? She traced the scowl on her friend's face before glancing down at Lambo, who was now snuggling closer to her stomach.

"I should tell them about you," Naru whispered to herself as she run her hand through her foster son's curly hair. "If I actually do ever plan to go back home then I am going to take you with me and I can't handle my friends yelling at me about not mentioning you."

"Don't leave Mama," Lambo muttered, opening his arms so wide that Naru was just tempted to hug him but she knew her foster son was sleeping. Why did someone have to leave this poor boy an orphan? The blonde didn't know much about her son's biological parents but she knew his mother had been in pain from the death of her husband. Was there someone out there who could make her experience the same pain Lambo's mother went through? She hoped not because she didn't want herself to become weak due to some man dying on her.

"Shouldn't he be in kindergarten?"

Naru looked away from her sleeping son's face and turned her attention to Reborn, who was leaning against her wall with a smirk on his face. She eyed the coffee cup on her table, wondering if it was possible for her to throw the cup without waking up her son. The chances were small but it didn't mean she couldn't imagine the day where she could wipe the smirk off of his mouth with the cup.

"I'm letting him take the day off," Naru explained, running her hand through her son's soft hair.

"He followed you all the way here instead of going to kindergarten didn't he?" Reborn asked, taking his usual seat in front of her desk. She scowled but didn't dare to contradict his words. He gazed at her sleeping son with a knowing look before flickering his eyes at the photo in her hand. The hitman glanced at the letter on the table and thinned his lips. "Your friend sent you another letter didn't she? Did she ask you to come back again?"

"She isn't going to give up until I tell her I'm coming back home," Naru admitted with a grimace. "She started with asking me to come back home after two years I started travelling then she started to beg, telling me that I should know how much she hates to beg. I guess she figure out this wasn't enough so she is starting to use emotional language to manipulate me to come back home. Why can't she get through her head that I don't want to come back home yet? Besides she has Sasuke so she should forget about me."

Reborn tilted his hat to the side, picked up the letter and began to read the letter her friend sent her. After having so many conversations and fights with him, Naru now knew better than to force the man to not read her letters. It was just pointless when he doesn't learn how to mind his own business and had no intention in doing what she wanted him to do.

"She keeps mentioning the past when writing letters to you," Reborn placed the letter back on the table and stared at her with . "And her tone is of reminiscence, telling you of all the good times that your team used to have. I can see why you think she is trying to manipulate you because she is asking you if you want to go back to those times but you don't want to go back to those times, am I right?"

The blue-eyed woman shook her head. "She talks about our time in Team Seven as if it was a good things but I can still remember the days where she would hit me in the head for insulting Sasuke. I might have ignored it and even forgave it but I don't want those times. If I were to come back home then she will just go back to ignoring me and continue to shower Sasuke with attention. If I were to come back, what would I have? I'm still trying to figure out who I am as a person and what my dreams are."

"Is that why you left home?" He questioned her, raising his eyebrow at her. "You left your home so you could go on a soul searching journey?"

"It was one of the reasons but it wasn't the main reason," Naru admitted, looking down at Lambo's sleeping face. "I had a lot of reasons for leaving and soul searching was one of them. I didn't even realize I was trying to figure out who I was as a person until I reached my first stop, in fact travelling around the world made me question everything I thought about. What does it mean to be a leader? Was my dream shallow? Why do I want it so badly? Those questions always seem to ring in my mind as I travelled."

"What was your dream?" Naru blinked her eyes and stared at the black-haired man, who had his arms crossed as he stared at her with so much seriouness that she was surprised she hadn't combusted on the spot.

"I wanted to be the leader of my village and become the best kunoichi in the world," she answered softly, looking at the man straight in the eye. She pushed back the memories flowing into her mind before continuing on. "I'm the strongest kunoichi there is and I'm proud of what I did but I don't know if I want to be the leader. By the time I finished the war, I started to feel like I have forgotten who I was as a person. I didn't smile like before and the people around me respected me, which was what I always wanted but I started to ask myself why the difference? Is it because I saved them that they treat me differently now? I forgave them but I can't forget how they treated me. I also don't want to be someone I hated and I knew if I stayed any longer, I could become the very thing I hated."

"So you left."

"Do you think it was wrong for me to leave? Because Sakura-chan seems to think I'm an idiot for being gone for so long," Naru said bitterly. "She doesn't understand that I still have to figure out who I am or that there are things I need to deal with before I come back."

Reborn gazed at her with so little emotion that she wondered if she said too much. Knowing herself, she probably did but she just wanted it off her chest. The other teachers would never understand what she was going through since they were civlians. She couldn't ask Hinata or talk about it with her because her best friend would tell her that it was alright for her to not come back. If there was one thing she could count on about her best friend, it was hard for her to tell her that she messed up.

"It wasn't wrong for you to leave," Reborn informed her. "If you truly hated the person you were becoming then it is better for you to go and find yourself then to suddenly wake up and realize that you hate yourself. You might even hate the people around you, do things that you would never do just because you haven't realized you were becoming the one thing you hate."

"You are actually giving me good advice! Call the press, it's time for people to find out that Reborn gives good advice," Naru joked, earning an eye roll from the said male. She laughed before looking down at her sleeping son, who had now tightened his grip on her.

"I've given plenty of good advice before, Uzumaki," Reborn informed her.

"Name me one time."

"I told Tsuna it was better for him to fight than to run away," Reborn stated, shrugging his shoulder. "Kyoko would have remembered him as the cool guy who tried to fight than the coward who run away, which was enough for him to go back to the gym and fight."

 _So that was why he came back,_ Naru thought, staring at the cocky man in front of her. Telling her student a way to be remembered by his crush was enough for the boy to forget his fear and confront the student bullying him, which was a smart idea if she thought so herself and it was a shame she didn't think of it too. Though she would rather have preferred if Reborn hadn't told Tsuna to fight. In fact, she rather be happy if Mochida had used his head and never consider to fight Tsuna at all.

"Are you giving him anymore advice when it comes to girls?" Naru asked, raising her eyebrows. "Because I highly doubt a man like you can't give him any other advice except how to hook up with a woman, use a condom and how to leave them though you are doing terrible in the last one."

Reborn smirked and tilted his hat down. "Uzumaki, if I didn't know any better I would say that you are jealous of the fact I had girlfriends while you had never had a boy ask you out."

"I'm being serious, Reborn," Naru said, ignoring the bait that the man had thrown. "Tsuna doesn't have a lot of male role models in his life since his father isn't in his life. Out of everyone, he is going to be going to you about relationships with the other gender which means I expect you to teach him how to be a decent man."

Reborn thinned his lips at her words. "I might not be the best person when it comes to a long term relationship but I will assure you Uzumaki that I won't allow my student not to become a decent man. I will never allow my student to be anything but less than a gentleman to a girl. Despite what you think Uzumaki, I do not tolerate men that belittle woman."

"I know Reborn but I just want to remind you about it," Naru said, shaking her head. "Even if you don't tolerate it, I am certain Tsuna isn't the kind of boy who would do those things but it is better to be safe then sorry."

It had been stupid of her to say this to him but the blonde didn't want to see her female students crying because their crush or boyfriend said something rude to them. She already had several girls come to her office because Gokudera hurt their feelings though she couldn't blame him. The boy had told her they insulted Tsuna, hadn't left him alone which made him believe insulting them would do the trick.

She still gave him a detention for it and lectured him about the importance of making sure a girl didn't cry.

"The moment Tsuna acts anything less than a gentleman then inform me." Reborn said before leaving her alone to deal with her sleeping son.

Did the two of them agree to do something? The world must be ending again, Naru thought as she stared down at her son, because that must be the only reason why she was entertaining the idea of going to Reborn when her student was acting anything less then a gentleman.

* * *

"Lambo! Where are you going?"

The school day had barely ended and her foster son was already trying to kill her by making her worry about him. Maybe, she should have made the boy go to kindergarten, Naru thought to herself as she chased after the little boy, who was now running on the ledge which was near her grocery store. If he lost his footing then he would fall down and cry, which would make her feel like she was the worse mother in the world for letting it happen.

She stopped running when she noticed a petite and slender girl walking towards her son. She was a pretty girl with her long brown hair and big brown eyes, Naru thought, staring at the young girl who was trying her hardest to balance on the ledge. Still, wasn't it a little bit weird the girl was here? She sighed and scanned the area, where she could see Tsuna and Reborn walking towards her. She grinned when Tsuna perked up at the sight of her while his tutor just gave her a smirk.

"My name is Miura Haru," the girl said, drawing Naru's attention back to her. The brown-haired girl was looking at her foster son with hearts in her eyes and the blonde just had a bad feeling on what was going to happen. "Would you want to be my friend?"

"Lambo-sama will be happy to have another minion to work with," Lambo said, nodding his head at the smiling girl.

 _How many times have I told him to speak in first person?_ Naru asked herself as she stared at the happy girl in front of her. There was nothing wrong with her son calling himself by his name but it made him seem stupid and the blonde knew very well her foster son wasn't an idiot. Also why was he talking about minions? She had made it very clear to the young boy that the people around him weren't people he could just boss around.

Maybe it was time for her to cut down his television time.

"Can you hug me?" Haru asked, gazing at Lambo with so much adoration that she was worried she might need to drag her son away from the girl. God, this town was filled with so many weirdos that it wasn't even funny anymore.

"Lambo-sama can't hug you right now," Lambo said, earning a sigh of relief from the blonde. "Lambo-sama is going to go back home and plan how to kill Reborn."

The brown-haired girl blinked and blinked her eyes at the boy's words while Naru wondered not for the first time if she should go to Lambo's family and yell at them for giving such a difficult mission to him. Not only that, now she might have people wondering what the hell she was teaching her cute little son because no sane mother would allow her son to talk such terrible things.

"Lambo, you shouldn't say these things in broad daylight especially in front of Uzumaki-sensei!" Tsuna yelled, drawing the attention of the brown haired girl.

 _Slap._

"You're a bastard!" Haru yelled, causing the blonde to raise her eyebrows at the girl. "What are you teaching him? An assassin technique."

Right, it was time for her to intervene, Naru thought to herself as she strolled between the two preteens. While she rather not admit she was Lambo's mother due to the fact this girl wanted someone to blame for her son's behaviour but, she didn't want her student to be blamed for something that wasn't his fault. The blonde did not want to see this boy to have a bad reputation just because some girl misunderstood.

"Miura-san, Sawada-san here hasn't taught my son anything," Naru said, drawing the girl's attention towards her. She flickered her eyes to her student, who rubbed his cheek, before glancing at Lambo who gulped when her eyes landed on him. "My student may at times look after my son when I'm not looking but he will never teach my son to say such thoughtless words."

God, she sounded like a responsible adult for once in her life.

"You're Lambo-kun mother?" The brown-haired girl asked, earning a nod from the blonde. The blue-eyed woman couldn't help but have a bad feeling when she flickered her eyes from her to Reborn, who stood there with his hands in his pockets. "But I always see Lambo-kun with him and his father."

"Father?" Naruto questioned, glancing down at her son who blinked his eyes at her. "Lambo-kun doesn't have a father; I'm a single mother."

"Isn't the man beside Sawada-san Lambo-kun's father?" The girl asked, stomping her foot. "And how can a mother allow her son to be corrupted by that boy's bad influence."

 _Did she just imply I wasn't a good mother?_ Naru asked herself as she gazed at the glaring girl in front of her. There was no way she could allow the insult to just pass her. There was no chance in hell she could accept this girl insulting her student even. Out of all the students she had, Tsuna and his friends were probably the best influence that she could have around Lambo because they weren't mixed up with anything insane.

"Reborn is my friend," Naru said coldly, staring down at the brown-haired girl who dared to insult her capabilities as a mother. "I do not know where you have gotten in your head that he is my lover or anything but that thought is wrong. Secondly, I do not let my son be corrupted by Tsuna. Tsuna is the best influence that I can have on my son since my little boy is only now learning what it means to live a normal life. Tsuna is a good boy who doesn't deserve your bullshit."

"I will inform the police about you," the girl threatened.

 _Do not punch her! She's a kid_ , Naru chanted to herself as she glared down at the girl that was daring to push her to her limits. If she was anyone else, the blonde wouldn't hesistate to shove her fist against the girl's face but the girl was a student. If word got out she punched a kid because they insulted her then she probably would get fired from her job.

She couldn't have that.

"You can't inform the police about Uzumaki," Reborn said, drawing the girl's attention away from her. "Lambo here wishes to stay with her and will be very unhappy with you if you decide to tear him away from his mother. Besides Uzumaki is the best mother that a boy like Lambo can have."

The blue-eyed woman blinked her eyes and stared at the man, wondering for the first time why the hell he was defending her from these accusations. He might be a friend but Naru never expected him to do these things. She always believed the man would just let her deal with this shit before going his own merry way. If he kept on doing this then she would have to do so many things for him, and that was the last thing she wanted.

"But she lets him be influence by that bastard!" Haru cried. "If she was a good mother then she won't let him hang around Sawada!"

"He's my son, Miura-san, not yours," Naru said steely, glaring down at the girl. The brown-haired girl flinched, earning a smile from the blonde. "Do not tell me what I should do to become a good mother because I doubt you know how to handle my life. My son speaks these things because he has forgotten what I have told him, aren't I right Lambo."

"Yes, Kaa-chan." Her son muttered, earning a smile from Naru.

"If you do not like the way my son talks then correct him," Naru said evenly as she picked her son up from the ledge. She smiled softly when the boy burrowed his head against her chest. "But do not threaten me young lady because you won't like what I will do to you. It is also up to my son to decide who he wants to be around with. It is not your decision and if Tsuna dislike my son being around him then I will make sure not to let Lambo bother him."

With those words, she left the young lady to mull over her words.

* * *

Naru knew she shouldn't leave her sleeping son alone but the day had been too stressful with her having to read Sakura's letter, grading papers, having the talk with Reborn and of course dealing with the girl that dared to call her a bad mother. However, she couldn't let herself drink in front of Lambo, not when she knew the boy was in a fragile place right now. Hell, she wanted to go out so badly that she had been tempted to call Reborn to look after her kid.

The moment she wanted to call Reborn to take care of Lambo was the moment she knew she needed to drink because her son shouldn't be around the boy.

"Having one of those days again, Naru?" The bartender asked once she was done ordering her first drink for the day.

"You can say that again but you know I won't rant to you about my problems unless it is really annoying" Naru answered, taking the glass of whiskey from the man's hands. She tossed her head back and gulped down the liquid, allowing it to tickle down her throat. Being in a bar reminded her of the days after the war, the days where she wanted to drink herself to a obvilion only to find out that she couldn't do it.

She ordered her second glass of whiskey, earning a nod from the man. As she waited for her drink to come, the blue-eyed girl couldn't help but notice there was a pink-haired girl beside her. _She must be a few years younger then me_ , Naru thought as she took a sip of her alcohol. The girl was very pretty with her large green eyes and pale skin but there was something familiar about her.

"Shitty day too, kid?" Naru asked the girl, causing the pink-haired girl to look at her with wide eyes. "Wanna talk about it? I'm having a shitty day and I've been told by people that talking about your problems should cheer you up."

"My boyfriend wants to stay here instead of going home," the girl slurred, earning a sympathetic look from the blonde. "H-He's stuck babysitting some kid and won't be able to leave until he finished his job or if someone kills the kid. I want him to go back home. What about you?"

At least she wasn't trying to manipulate him, Naru thought as she took a sip of her whiskey. Wasn't it just less than twelve years ago when Sasuke left Konoha for the first time? Wasn't it just a couple of years ago when Sakura admitted, while drunk, that she had been willing to abandon the village to go with Sasuke. God, she could still remember being upset when her drunk teammate admitted that she told their other teammate about how they could be happy together and how she understood what Sasuke was going through.

Sakura was a lot of things but her teammate would never be able to understand Sasuke.

"Me? I'm starting to have a break down because my friend keeps bringing up the past," Naru admitted, looking up at the ceiling. "Y'know I gave up a lot of things to keep my promise to her. I made sure never to confess to the boy I loved because I knew she loved him and begged me to bring him back. I made sure to hold back doing my fight with him 'cause I knew she would kill me if I kill him. Now that he is back, you think she would leave me alone but no she wants me back. Why the hell should I come back when I know she is going to ignore me? Some little girl insulted my ability to take care of my kid and now I can't help but wonder if I'm doing the right thing in raising a kid by myself. I am juggling being a mother and a teacher at the same time and I can feel myself going to an edge that I don't want to go."

"Why don't you tell her to fuck off?" The pink-haired girl asked,raising her thin eyebrows at her before taking another shot of tequila. "I-If you did a lot of things for her then tell her to screw it. She already took your man didn't she? Tell her she can't order you around and to screw herself because she took the man you loved. If someone stole Reborn, I would kill them."

Why oh why was it impossible for her to get drunk? Naru cried, realizing the girl beside her was Reborn's crazy ex-girlfriend. If she was able to get drunk then she would never know this woman was the same woman her friend kept talking about. No, Bianchi doesn't know about her, she reassure herself as the bartender gave her another glass of alcohol. Hell this might be her chance to find out why the woman was crazy enough to go out with Reborn of all people.

"Why do you love your boyfriend? Why don't you leave him if he doesn't want to leave?" Naru asked, causing the pink-haired girl to give her a frown. The blonde swirled the contents of her drink. "Not that I can talk much since I don't have the courage to tell my friend to screw herself, not without losing my friendship with her. I was the one that gave up on love 'cause I thought he would be happier with her then with me."

"He's the best in his job," Bianchi answered, gulping down her drink like it was her lifeline. "I love him because he was one of the few guys to give me attention and wasn't an asshole. My boyfriend before him was a cheating ass who cheated on me with the bitch that I thought was my best friend. Just remembering the way I caught them is enough to want me to murder that asshole again."

"So you love him because he treated you a lot better than your asshole of an ex," Naru summarized, ordering another round of drinks. "Then it ain't love—course I'm saying that even though I've never really been in love before."

"What do you know?" Bianchi slurred. "You said it yourself, you have never been in love before."

The blonde looked at the glass of whiskey in front of her before looking at the young woman in front of her with pity. "Love makes you do crazy things, things you would never do yourself. I thought I was in love with my male best friend, the one I told you that I couldn't confess to but I ain't in love with him. He never made me want to be a better person and nearly tried to kill me; I deserve better than that. He wanted a girl who is willing to forget his actions and while I forgave them, I can't forget the fact that I nearly died by his hand. He never made me want to be a better person or make me want to do things that I would never do. He doesn't make me yearn for him nor does he treat me like an equal. I wanted someone who treated me like I'm the world."

"My mum wanted the same thing," Bianchi admitted, earning a surprise look from the blonde. "She always told me to find a man who loved me as much as I loved him. She told me never to end up in her position 'cause it makes me seem pathetic. My father never once loved my mother or else he wouldn't have an affair, which broke her heart. I hated him and loved him for it because it gave me my baby brother but it ruined my mother's pride."

"I'm sorry to say this but your father is an ass."

"He never once looked at me," the pink-haired girl continued, ignoring her comment about her father. "He used to pay more attention to my little brother then me because my brother was born from the woman he loved while I was born from the woman he hated. I thought I found the one when I met Reborn but he doesn't want to come back and he doesn't look at me in the same way anymore. I can't accept the fact he broke up with me."

"How old are you?" Naru asked, stopping the girl's from ranting anymore.

"17."

"You're still young," the blonde informed her, running her hand through her hair. "I know you think your ex-boyfriend may be the only one who love you but I'm sure there are other men who will love you and your personality. When you're seventeen you think you know everything but in reality, you are still trying to figure out."

"What if they are like my ex-boyfriend?" The girl asked.

"You're always going to wonder if he is going to be like your ex," Naru answered, offering the girl a smile. "But it doesn't mean you can't trust the boy, it just means you have to put your guard up. Trust me, it is better for you to leave and go find a boy who loves you and is willing to do what you ask then be with a man that broke up with you and caused you to leave your own homeland. You should try to figure out what you want in life and get over your issues then chase after a man that probably would never listen to you. My friend is probably in the same situation as you are except I think Sasuke might love her."

"And is she happy?"

"She sounds happy," Naru answered, remembering the tone in her friend's letter to her. "But I don't know if she is truly happy because the more she talked about her relationship to me, the more convinced I am that she is trying to fool herself to think she is happy. I think she is expecting a lot of things from Sasuke but she isn't getting what she wanted. I think out of the two of us, I'm the one that is actually happy."

"I don't want to be like your friend but I can't stop the feelings that I have," Bianchi admitted. "I want to find someone that loves me but it is hard for me to forget the feelings I have. What did you do?"

"I allowed myself to face the reality of our situation," Naru answered, remembering her days in China where she allowed herself to remember every good and bad thing Sasuke did to her. "I reminded myself to forgive him but to never let myself to delude the idea of what things could have been. I needed to let go of fantasy just so I could live my life the way I wanted. I travelled the world, made friends and learnt to take care of myself just so I remind myself that I needed to love myself more and that I deserve better. I will tell myself it was okay that I loved him but I knew my love for him wasn't going to be enough for our relationship to work. I'm not going to lie, it is going to be hard work to move on from him but in the end it would be worth it."

"Can I still be around him?"

"It isn't wrong to be around him but ask yourself can you handle being around him and knowing that he might not return your feelings? If you think you can handle it then go ahead be around him, show him that you aren't weak and that you are moving on, but if you think it is going to hurt then leave. Go somewhere that will allow you to heal your broken heart before you come back to face the reality; date other men and see what they have to offer. Just don't stay with someone that doesn't treat you the way you deserved."

Now if only Naru could follow her own advice.

* * *

"It has been seven years since Naru left us and I still don't understand why she hasn't come back yet! Why did she leave us without saying goodbyes to our faces? Doesn't she still want to become Hokage?" Sakura asked the rest of Rookie Nine as they all took their seats in their usual bar. The pink-haired girl looked so angry and confuse that Hinata was tempted to feel bad for her but she couldn't bring herself to feel bad for the girl. Sure she understood Sakura's anger but Hinata had known the moment she read the letter that her best friend needed her space.

What do you do once you reached the top? What do you do when everything around you reminded you of the corpses you saw in the battlefield? Those were two of the many questions Naru asked in her letter to her. The blonde had never sounded so sober and unhappy until she wrote that letter to her, which signal her best friend needed to find her happiness again. If Naru had continued on the path that she was on then Hinata knew her best friend would have hated herself for the person she was becoming.

"Didn't you notice Naru was acting strange in the last few months she was in the village?" Shikamaru asked, running his hand through the small goatee that he was growing. He glanced at Sasuke, who had been quiet throughout the whole rant his girlfriend gave. "In the last few months, she hadn't been screaming about becoming Hokage or acting like her usual bubbling self. The fact she has been away for seven years now is telling us that she doesn't want to be back in the village."

"How can she become Hokage if she doesn't come back to the village? Doesn't she realize we need her back?" Sakura moaned. "The idiot has been declaring to the world that she wanted to become Hokage so why the hell isn't she getting her ass back here? Isn't seven years too much? Doesn't she want to become Hokage? And why hasn't she tell us where she is?"

"Because she knows you will try to drag her back here," Hinata answered sharply, drawing everyone's attention to her. She drew her hand to her side when Kiba tried to take her hand to calm her down. "Haven't you forgotten that everything Naru did was for you? Bring Sasuke back Naru-chan, who asked my best friend to do it? It was you and she did it. She had seen people died and couldn't handle it because she keeps remembering their corpses. Now you are asking her to come back when she has made it clear to everyone here that she will be back when she is ready. She left so she could deal with everything and that she could become the Hokage this village needs."

"She never mention it to me in her letter to me," Kiba said, frowning. "Then again it is sometimes hard to know what is going through her mind; don't let her smile fool you, Naru can be very confusing when she wants to be."

She was, wasn't she? Her best friend never allowed anyone to know the pain she was going through because she rather the people around her to be happy. It was one of the things Hinata loved and hated about her best friend because how could she protect her friend if she didn't know about her feelings? Kami, she hadn't realize Naru's real feelings about Sasuke until the day she left Konoha. She honestly believed the girl when she said she loved her teammate like a brother.

It wasn't until she saw the tear stains in Naru's confession to her that Hinata realized her friend's feelings.

"I thought you would have stopped her, Hyuga or the very least you would know where she is going," Sasuke said, staring at her with emotionless eyes. "You realize this could bring her a lot of problems."

"I don't know where she went and I probably could have stopped her but she was gone before I can stop it," Hinata admitted. "Even if I did see her before she left, I wouldn't have stop her. Did Naru stop you when you left? No, she didn't because she knew it was what you needed. She sacrificed a lot of things to bring you back and to help us. The least we could do was give her the peace she needed. Who knows, maybe the reason why Naru hasn't come back is because she found someone who loves her the way she deserved. Maybe, she thinks a life with them in whatever country or village she is in is better than a life here."

"She should come back to us."

"Sakura, I will say this to you once but do not push Naru to come back here," Hinata hissed. "If she doesn't want to come back then you should support her because she is the reason why Uchiha here isn't arrested. God knew if I was in her shoes, I would have allowed the other village to do what they wanted to him."

"Hinata!"

"She might be your teammate Sakura but Naru is more then just a friend to me," the blue-haired girl stated, glancing at the clock on the wall. "Naru is also my big sister in everything but blood. I would follow her anywhere because unlike you, I know she would never destroy our friendship for a boy. If you even try and ask Kakashi to give you a mission to bring her back then I will end you. It is time for you to let Naru to find her happiness, just like she brought the man that bring you happiness."

If Naru ever tell her where she was then Hinata knew she and Kiba would follow her friend in a heartbeat. They would do anything to make sure the blonde was happy with her life because she knew her friend had given up a lot of things to ensure the happiness of the people around her.

* * *

A/N: Please review and tell me what you think especially between the conversation between Bianchi and Naru.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I want to thank everyone that reviewed the last chapter as well as everyone who added this story to their favourite and follows. I'm glad that everyone liked the talk between Naru and Bianchi because it had been fun writing it.**

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"Uzumaki-sensei, aren't you being a little bit unfair? Why are you giving us homework even though it's our summer vacation?" One of her students asked while Naru handed her summer class their math sheet. He looked so sad that the blonde was tempted to pat his hair and tell him that everything was going to be fine but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Why should she when they were making her waste her summer vacation in school? If she didn't want to be here next year then her students needed to learn what the hell she would do to them if they failed her class.

She gave a small smile to Tsuna and Takashi when she handed them their work for the summer. The two teens flushed red, shoved their homework into their bags before muttering a word of thanks to her. Why were those two acting so strange? Should she send them to the nurse? She flickered her eyes to the windows, where she could see Reborn staring at her with amusement. Thinning her lips, the blonde decided against letting the kids go to the nurse.

The two of them just needed to stay here for another few more minutes before going back home.

"If you guys don't know how to answer one of the questions then it is ok for you to call me for help," Naru informed the class when she handed the sheet of paper to the last student. Her six students sighed in relief at her words, earning a laugh from the blonde. Did they think she would be furious if they asked her for help? She might become irritated but it wasn't enough for her to tell them not to call her when they had a problem.

Though she prayed they didn't call her when she was trying to catch up on sleep or when she was trying to get Lambo to sleep.

If he kept asking her for bedtime stories at the rate he was going then there was no doubt in her mind that she might need to either buy an actual storybook or make a story up. Maybe she should make him run more laps instead of telling him stories. At least if she make him run laps then Naru could be certain he was going to hit the bed and sleep like there was no tomorrow.

"Do it at home."

Blinking her eyes, the blue-eyed woman was taken back by the sight of Reborn sitting on top of one of the tables and talking to both Yamamoto and Tsuna, When did he get in? And how couldn't she have not heard his presence? She grimaced, realizing he might have snuck in while she was thinking of what to do with Lambo.

"Uzumaki-sensei, aren't you going to tell Reborn to get out of this classroom?" Tsuna asked, drawing her attention to him.

Tilting her head, Naru pondered over what to do with her student's tutor. She should yell at Reborn, telling him to get the hell out of here but what was the point? No matter what she liked to believe, the man would ignore her wishes and would continue to come here. Besides it wasn't against the rules for him to be here since school was offically over.

"What are you talking about with them?" Naru asked, earning a raised eyebrow from her brown-haired student and a smirk from the black-haired man.

"When did the two of you started to talk so civil!"

"I told them to do your homework over in Tsuna's house," Reborn answered, ignoring his student's question.

If Reborn was anyone else, she would tell him not to give them the answers to the homework but Naru knew her friend well. The man might be an arrogant ass but he was a man who knew his students won't learn anything if he gave them the answers. That was a good thing, because there had been a number of times when the blonde had caught one of her students not being able to do the equation she set, despite having written the right answer.

"Does that mean you want me to remove Lambo from Tsuna's house?" The blonde asked, praying to the god that the man would say no. She loved her foster son but it would be nice for her to take a day off and focus on writing a letter back to Sakura. God knew the woman would yell at her for not writing back at her even if Naru told her that she had been busy.

"I will bring him back to your apartment," Reborn said, curling his lips into a smirk.

From the smirk on his lips, Naru knew the bastard knew she was hoping for him to say it was okay for her to leave Lambo with Nana until she was ready to deal with the chaos he brought. There was no way she could finish writing her letter to Sakura if Lambo was beside her. It would take her ages for her to find out the write a letter which expressed her feelings about Sakura bothering her.

God, how was she going to write a letter which meant screw it with Sakura.

"You two should go back to Tsuna's house," Reborn said to the two teens with his eyes still fixed on her. Her two students glanced at each other, looked at her before nodding their head. The blonde knitted her eyebrows together, wondering why the black-haired man wasn't following the two kids back. Wasn't he going to help them with their homework? She hadn't made their work easy because of the fact they interrupted her vacation time.

"Why aren't you going with them?" Naru asked, taking a seat in Takashi's empty chair.

"They are old enough to walk back home without an adult leading the way," Reborn drawled. "What is bothering you, Uzumaki? And don't even bother lying to me because I've known you long enough to know when you are lying."

The seriousness in Reborn's dark eyes told the blonde that he would not be happy with her if she kept it from him. For a brief moment, she remembered Bianchi's words about how Reborn showed more care to her then her own ex-boyfriend did. For the past few days, she thought the teenager was talking about her relationship but now she knew better. These past couple of months, the blonde had been comparing him to Sasuke but this time she felt like an idiot to do it. Sasuke would never ask her about what was bothering her but this man in front of her did.

She didn't know what to think about it.

"I don't know how to tell Sakura-chan to fuck off," Naru admitted, looking down at her hands. "For the past couple of years, I have been allowing my female teammate to treat me the way she did. I allowed her to try to manipulate me and would have continued on doing it if it weren't for your ex-girlfreind. Bianchi might be seventeen but she told me something that I knew I should do, something I was just too afraid to do. I should tell Sakura that she already asked a lot of things from me but going back home is just too much."

Reborn tilted his hat upwards and stared at her with emotionless eyes. If she didn't know any better, she would think he wasn't surprised by her words but she had noticed the surprise in his eyes before he reverted it back to his emotionless eyes. Ah, Bianchi hadn't told him about getting drunk had she? Or the advice she gave her. Naru didn't blame her because the girl just had too many drinks that night; it was unlikely the pink-haired girl remembered her advice.

"So you were the one who gave Bianchi the advice to do something with herself," Naru blinked her eyes at this piece of news, earning a sigh from the teen. "I don't know what you did Uzumaki but my ex-girlfriend hadn't declared she was in love with me for the past couple of days. She still lives with me, but she has been acting different. She hasn't once mentioned killing Tsuna and informed my student that she is working with me to make him a good boss."

"Isn't it a good thing?" Naru asked, shifting her head to the right.

"It is a good thing since Bianchi never wanted to admit our relationship is over but the next day after she become sober, she toldme that she will stop bothering me to come back to Italy," Reborn answered, kicking his feet on the table. "My point is Uzumaki if you can get my ex-girlfriend to stop lying to herself about our relationship then you can find a way to tell your teammate to fuck off."

"Bianchi is different from Sakura," Naru said, rubbing the side of her head. "Your ex-girlfriend had came to terms that a relationship with you wasn't going to do her any good and is trying to move on from the relationship. I am also sure when she was twelve years old that she never planned to marry you. My teammate, on the other hand, is someone that doesn't know when to give up. For most of my teammate's life, she had made it her goal to become Mrs. Uchiha. When Sasuke kept refusing to go out on dates with her, she would pick herself up and continue asking him out. God, she is dating our teammate even though he nearly killed her. Bianchi admitted to me that she wants someone who would love her as much as she loved him. Sakura will never say anything like that. My friend never played with the idea our male teammate might not be interested in her while Bianchi had admitted she knew things were different between then two. When it comes to feelings, Bianchi is a lot more smarter then Sakura."

God, it felt good to release all her pent out feelings to him. For the past seven years, she had been thinking about Sakura and her strong desire to marry Sasuke. A desire which never fully made any sense to Naru because why would her teammate want to date someone who treated her like shit? Had her teammate never consider the idea of finding someone else? Knowing her former teammate, the woman probably had never consider the idea of seeing someone else. In her friend's eyes, their teammate was her prince charming but Naru had always known he wasn't a prince charming.

What Naru came to accept the fact with Sasuke was that he would never give her the respect she deserved.

"Bianchi has seen the effects of being in a relationship with a one sided love," Reborn said, looking her straight in the eyes. The man tilted his hat downwards. "It is well known in the mafia world that her father does not love her mother with the fact that he doesn't hide his hatred from her. Whenever Bianchi's father is out in public with his friends, he will rant loudly about how terrible his wife is, yet the man doesn't leave her because he knows Bianchi's mother is the reason why he even have the contracts he had. The fact he had an affair with Gokudera's mother made it clear to Bianchi's mother about what he truly felt about her."

"I could never understand it," Naru said, looking up at the ceiling. "Why stay with Bianchi's mother if he hated her? Why make the woman go through so much suffering? If he wanted to keep the alliance then the bastard should have found other ways that would let him keep the alliance."

Reborn shrugged his shoulder and stared at her for a couple of seconds, causing the blonde to arched her eyebrow at her friend. Did she have something on her? No, she had washed her face before she entered the classroom and checked her hair to make sure it didn't show her students that she had rushed here. God, she didn't even have time to tie her hair up into her usual ponytail.

"What are you looking at?" Naru finally asked, breaking the silence between them.

"I'm admiring the view," Reborn answered with his eyes still fixed on her. He flickered his eyes to her blond hair, which flew freely to her sides, before finally glancing at her eyes. The blonde opened her mouth to say something, well anything to change the topic, but no words were coming out of her mouth. She couldn't even stop herself from blushing red at his comment. _It had to be because the weather was too hot that my face is as red as a tomato past_ e, Naru reminded herself as she looked away from the smirking man.

"You know if you think I'm going to swoon at your words then you have another thing coming," Naru finally said, shaking her head. "I know you say that to every woman you meet."

"I say it to every beautiful woman I know," Reborn corrected, standing up from his seat. He walked towards her and before she even realized it, the older male leaned so close that there were only a few centimeres apart. "And no matter how many times you scoff or tell me that I tell it to every woman I know Uzumaki, I don't lie. You are one of the most beautiful woman that I ever know."

The older male didn't budge an inch after saying those words to her. Instead he either looked at her eyes or at her lips, causing her to feel her heart rate to race. What the hell was happening? What was going through his mind? He had always flirted with her but he never did anything like this before. Where the hell was Hibari when she needed him? She gulped and forced herself to look at the man's dark eyes, wondering how it could be filled with so many and so little emotions at the same time.

"Why do you always come to me? If you think I am someone who would jump on you because you complimented me then you have another thing coming," Naru said but she didn't know whether she was talking to herself or to him. "Like I told you Reborn, I don't do one night stands or a casual relationships so if you think acting like this will change my mind then you are wrong."

"And like I told you before Uzumaki, you interest me," Reborn answered, leaning closer till their forehead touch. "Do you think reminding me of the fact that you don't do one night stands will change my interest? I've too much respect for you to dishonour you like that but I want you to realize you are a beautiful woman that deserves to be complimented. I don't know about your duckass teammate but if I had a woman like you by my side, I would have tried my hardest to make you go out with me and to keep you by my side."

"Don't you think this is too much?" Naru asked, pushing the man off of her. He arched his eyebrows at her, causing the blonde to sigh. "You broke up with Bianchi not too long ago Reborn and while you may be over it, Bianchi is still moving on. I might not agree with the fact she obsessed over you but your ex-girlfriend isn't a bad person and I don't want her to feel hurt by the fact you are flirting with me. Besides….if you continue to act like this then how the hell are you going to find a woman that adores you? She would never know if you truly loved her because of the fact she is always going to wonder if you are just playing with her feelings."

There was no way Naru was going to allow herself to be the reason why Reborn never find a woman who loved him. Even an asshole like him deserved to find someone who loved him as much as he loved her. The blonde might had never been in a relationship before but she could clearly remember the days where Sakura had been jealous of her closeness with Sasuke. If her student's tutor wanted to have a healthy relationship one day then it was better for him to cut down the amount of flirting which took place between them.

"And what if the woman I like is in front of me?" Reborn asked, freezing her in her spot.

 _He doesn't like me_ , Naru reminded herself as she gazed in his eyes. He might flirted with her, might give her compliments and help her out when it came to her three students but Reborn wasn't someone she knew all that well. All she knew about him was the fact he was a hitman. No, she corrected herself, she knew about him was the fact he was a handsome hitman but that was it.

He didn't know everything about her and the same went for her.

"Then I will tell you that you are lying," Naru answered, quirking her lips upwards while Reborn just shrugged his shoulder. "You are interested in me because I am different but you don't like me in that way. To be fair, I don't like you in that way too and I will also hate to admit this to you but you are probably one of the few friends that I have in this town. Hell, I might even consider you my best friend in this place because you are the only one that I can rant about my problems with my teammate."

For the first time since he came here, Naru finally admitted out loud that Reborn was her closest friend in this place. No, she corrcted herself, he was one of the few people she could trust. He might not know what she was or her past but the man had never once pushed her to do something she didn't want to do. He might have flirted with her, make her flustered and make innudenos but he never forced her to do anything she didn't want to do.

She knew it wouldn't be long before she consider him closer then any of her friends in Konoha.

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Reborn looked up at the ceiling before glancing at his student, watched closely as he discussed the answers to the math questions Uzumaki set with Yamamoto and Gokudera. It had never occurred to him that the blonde would be sadist enough to give the students, which weren't on their level of education. Of course, he wasn't going to tell them anything until the pair of them gave up or if he felt kind enough to tell them the answers to the tricky question. As of yet, Gokudera was taking his time in figuring out the answer to the difficult question Uzumaki had set.

He thinned his lips as he remembered the blond-haired woman's words about him lying about his interest in her. What gave him a way? He hadn't done anything which indiciated to her that he didn't like her in that way. Reborn did care for the woman and would admit she was one of the most attractive woman he knew but he didn't love her. Then again, what did he know of love? He had never been in a loving relationship before, the closest he had ever been to loving someone had been Luce but even then it hadn't been love.

He couldn't even harmonize with her while with Uzumaki, it hadn't taken long for him to feel the affects of her flames.

"I don't get it!" Gokudera yelled, slamming the paper on the table, which effectively snapped Reborn out of his thoughts. The hitman tilted his hat downwards and mentally sighed when he noticed Haru standing behind the ajar door. The child was not a bad person but the man could not forget the young girl had insulted Uzumaki, driving her so angry and upset that she would drink a whole bottle of whiskey and ranted her problems to Bianchi.

If Naru ranting about her problems wasn't enough then it was the fact she talked to his ex-girlfriend, telling her the words needed to get her to move on. For the past couple of weeks, Reborn had been trying to figure out how to break the girl's heart while his friend did it in a matter of hours. Hell, he hadn't known his ex-girlfriend was given advice until he found her drunk off her ass in front of the door. The hitman could still recall the words spoken by the pink-haired girl as he carried her back to her room.

" _I decided that I'm going to follow that woman's advice, starting tomorrow I'm going to stop being so obsessive with you and stop trying to kill Sawada. I'm going to start to try and move on from you because it is time for me to say these facts out loud. I know even if I kill the boy that you are never coming back; I was just afraid to admit it."_

That had been a few days ago and Reborn thought the woman would have forgotten about her promise but Bianchi had kept her word. She repeated it again to him the next day before the two of them had taken breakfast with the others. He wished he could say the pink-haired teen had been happy when she said those words but she had been somber and heartbroken, telling him that the woman was not going through an easy time with accepting this fact. Though he knew the girl would move on because despite what she thought, his fellow hitman was a strong woman and would find someone who would give her the love she deserved.

"Why did you let Haru in, Reborn!" Tsuna yelled, snapping him out of his thoughts. The black-haired hitman tilted his hat up and let out a mental sigh at the sight of a depressed Haru standing behind them. For a brief moment, he remembered Uzumaki's reminder of making sure the boy did not belittle woman and while he knew Tsuna would never do it, he needed to remind him of preserving a woman's feelings.

"The mafia treat all women well," Reborn answered. "It's a life lesson for you to treat every women, both those you favour and do not favour, well. Besides how would Uzumaki feel if she knew you caused Haru here to cry? Your teacher doesn't tolerate people who hurts a female's feelings."

He smirked when he saw Tsuna bit his lips at this piece of news while both Yamamoto and Gokudera furrowed their eyebrows at hearing this, no doubt wondering how he knew about it. There was no way he was telling them of the discussion between Uzumaki and him, not when it was something personal between them. It had been the first time the woman admitted that he was someone brown-haired boy would go to for a relationship advice as well as telling him about the importance of making sure his student become a decent man.

"You know we could always ask Haru if she can help us," Yamamoto said, breaking the silence between them. "Since she goes to a good middle school and everything then maybe she can help us with the question Uzumaki-sensei set us with. If that doesn't work then we could always ask Uzumaki-sensei, she did say there wouldn't be any problem in asking her for help."

"Okay but I don't want to ask Uzumaki-sensei since she might be busy taking care of Lambo," Tsuna admitted, running his hand through his hair. " I just don't want to bother her with our homework because I know it isn't easy to take care of him."

It wasn't just that but the blue-eyed woman must be worrying about writing that letter to her friend, Reborn mused to himself as he pulled out the letter that Uzumaki hadn't noticed him taking from her pocket. To the blonde, taking care of the black-haired boy wasn't the most stressful thing she had to deal with. No, what was causing her so much stress was the fact Naru didn't know how to write a letter without losing her friendship with this woman.

This woman, who probably hadn't realized or accepted the fact Naru didn't want to go back home just yet. This person who kept reminding his friend about a past she wanted to forget. He looked down at the letter, wondering how the blonde was going to show the woman that she didn't need a reminder. Words weren't going to help her and if Reborn knew Uzumaki would accept it, he would tell her to take a picture of him with her and show the woman that she was happy where she was.

Of course he knew Naru would never accept the idea of using him in that way.

"I learnt this before," Haru said with so much confidence that Reborn knew would fool everyone into thinking she knew it.

He had seen the question and knew quite well no one but only a person who went through university could answer the question Uzumaki set. Reborn didn't even understand what was going through Naru's head when she set it but he liked it. He loved how it was causing his student so much distress because how the hell could the boy be one mark off from passing the test? Not only was it unacceptable but the blonde had been quite happy to rub it on his face.

 _Ding._

Reborn raised his eyebrow when he felt his cellphone vibrate against his pants' pocket. Keeping his eyes fixed on the brown-haired girl, he pulled out his phone, flipped it opened and looked at the message sent to him. Who would send him a message right now? He asked himself as he opened the unread message. The time difference between them was long enough for the Ninth to know he might be asleep though it could be one of the lower families who thought they could afford his rates.

' _This is the first and last time I'm asking you for help, Reborn but how the hell do I write a letter which politely tells her to screw herself? Don't let this get into your big head but I think you might know how to deal with this shitty situation I am in 'cause I have no idea how to tell her.'_

He felt bubbles of laughter building up in his throat when he read the message. For a brief moment, he was tempted to chuckle but held himself back, knowing it would raise a couple of eyebrows from the teens surrounding him. Only this woman would ask him for help while insulting his head. God, he didn't even need to look at the number or name to know it had been Naru who asked him for help. The woman must be desperate if she actually asked him for help because apparently his words of encouragement wasn't enough.

' _Have you attempted to make the tone of your letter calm?_ _And did you remind her about how important you being away is? Did you tell her about all the things you did for her and how you want to be left alone until you are ready to go back?'_ He typed the question and pressed the sent button before looking at Haru, who still had her eyes fixed on the diffcult question prepared by the young woman. It would be a while before they could figure things out so until then Reborn had all the time to calm Uzumaki down. After all, knowing her and what she was like when she was upset, the woman hadn't thought of making the tone as calm and detached as possible. In fact Reborn couldn't imagine the young lady being calm while writing to her friend because Naru was anything but calm.

 _Ding._

' _How the hell can I be calm while writing the letter? I'm about to tell my former teammate to screw herself and her beahviour! And why the hell should I go boasting to her about the things I did for her? I don't want to remind her about these things! Seriously is this all you have to say?'_

He could picture the woman scowling at him while she wrote it.

' _She isn't going to take you seriously if you don't protray yourself as a calm woman while writing this letter, besides your friend might make it worse if you aren't calm. Also, you aren't boasting about what you did for her, it is a fact that you are going to point out to her. You need to tell her about how she owes you for the things you did for her and that to return the favour is for her to leave you alone.'_

' _How the hell can I be calm when I know she is going to become so pissed with me when I'm done with this letter?' And you act like Sakura is going to accept it just like that!'_

 _If I didn't know Tsuna would need my help soon then I would go to the apartment and sort this problem out,_ Reborn thought to himself as he typed the message which he knew would calm her down. Why was it so important for her to keep her friendship with this woman? From what he read in the letter, the woman had not consider the idea maybe Uzumaki didn't want to go back. She had never once asked about how Uzumaki felt, always talking about the problems in the hospital, gossip or her relationship with that duckass teammate of theirs.

"I'm sorry!" Haru yelled, drawing his attention away from the phone and towards her. "I don't know!"

Right, he would deal with Tsuna's homework problem before heading towards Naru's place to fix her dilemma.

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Naru stared blankly at her cellphone and then to the piece of paper in front of her. This must have been her fiftieth time trying to write the letter which would showcase her feelings to her former teammate. Around her were crumbled papers that were filled with furious words that would allow her pink-haired teammate to figure out her former feelings towards Sasuke. There was no way she wanted the woman to know but everything she had done for her teammate had revolved around their male teammate.

"Mama, what's the matter?" Lambo asked, looking at the piece of blank paper with curiosity. "Who are you writing to?"

"To my friend Sakura," Naru answered, forcing herself to smile as she ruffled her son's dark hair. Her son giggled before protesting out loud for her behaviour, telling her with so much pride about how he was a grown up now. Just because he was going to school, her foster son thought he was too old for her to show him so much affection. She shook her head and watched as the young boy run back to the living room to watch his favourite cartoon program.

Why couldn't she go back to being a five-year-old? Or even a seventeen-year-old? She asked herself, picking up her favourite orange pen and clicking it open. It had taken her so long to grow up and learn there were certain things which she couldn't just say out loud. At the age of five, it would be easy for her to speak about her problems without any worries since no one would care. At seventeen, she could use as many swearwords as she wanted to put her point across.

She was twenty-four years old and had already spent four hours, trying to figure out how to politely tell her teammate to stop reminding her of the past.

 **Dingdong.**

Blinking her eyes, Naru dropped her pen and made her way towards the door, avoiding the scatter toys that Lambo had left in his wake. Who the hell was coming here this late at night? She asked herself as she stood on her tiptoes to look through the keyhole. The blonde blinked her bright blue eyes when she caught sight of a familiar male standing behind the door with black fedora hat tilted upwards, revealing his dark eyes.

Nodding her heads sideways, the young woman unlocked the door and stared at the older man, who had his arms folded against his chest as he strolled into her small apartment. What the hell was going on? Naru asked herself after she closed the door. She trailed after the hitman, who tilted his hat in greeting to Lambo before going to the dinning room table. Wasn't he going to ignore her? Because that was what she thought he was going to do since he ignored all of her message.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were going to ignore me since you stopped messaging me," Naru finally asked once the man took a seat across the paper lying on the table. He raised his eyebrow at her, curling his lips into a smirk and the blonde immediately caught on what the male was thinking. "I'm not upset about the fact you ignore me, bastard but once you stopped talking to me then it was only reasonable for me to think you don't want to help me anymore."

"I stopped answering because Tsuna and Yamamoto needed help with question seven," Reborn answered, folding his arms against his chest. "What were you thinking when you were giving them a university question to do?"

Oh no, she had given them one of the old questions her former teachers had given her to do. She had been pissed with her students for failing her exam but Naru had no idea this was going to happen. Maybe she should make her students some treats or let them skive her lesson tomorrow since she had been cruel enough to give them such a hard question. Honestly with all her worries and taking care of Lambo, she hadn't taken the time to check which questions she had given them.

"I was going through a lot of crap Reborn," Naru hissed, running her hand through her hair. "I've been taking care of Lambo and now I have to deal with my former teammate begging me to come back. I just didn't have the time to check on what questions I gave them."

The Italian man thinned his lips at her response, pushed his chair out before making his way to the kitchen. Knitting her eyebrows together, the blonde watched as the male grabbed the carton of milk from the fridge and placed the milk into her smallest saucepan. The first thing which came to her mind was how the hell did he know where her milk was? Sure they had dinner together and several meals too but it wasn't enough for him to know her fridge contents.

For all he knew, she could have run out of milk.

"Drink," Reborn ordered, placing a mug of hot milk in front of her once it had finished heating. The blonde opened her mouth to argue with him but the seriousness in his eyes told her he wasn't going to take no for an answer. Grumbling under her breath, Naru took a sip of the milk and felt her stiff body becoming relax. "Hot milk is good for calming down nerves and you will need to be calm while writing that letter."

"Yes oh wise one."

"It's good you know that I'm wise," Reborn said, ignoring the sarcasm in her tone. "Now did you read my message about it is time for you to take control of your life or not? Or do I have to give you a speech on why you need to calm down and the importance of stopping caring what the woman thinks?"

"I did read your message," Naru admitted, picking up her pen with one hand while drinking her hot mug of milk with another hand. "But it is so easy for you to think I shouldn't care what she thinks but she is still my friend. I don't want to hurt her feelings just because she is annoying me."

"Didn't she hurt your feelings by rubbing her relationship with your former crush?" Reborn said coldly, earning a flinch from the blonde. In the corner of her eyes, Naru noticed how Lambo had suddenly stiffened and she wondered briefly if he knew what they were talking about. "Everything that happened between the two of you is because of the lack of communication. It's time for you to tell her what you feel about her sending you messages to come back home. You need her to realize what you have came to realize."

"You mean you want me to tell her that the relationship our team had was toxic?" Naru asked, dropping her head down. "That if I stayed any longer that I would have lost my mind? Or how I deserve to find out who I am as a person? I tried that but it didn't seem to work the first time."

"Yes," Reborn answered, pushing the piece of paper towards her. "But try again and this time tell her everything that you have undergone through your journey. Make her see things from your perspective and then try to see things from her view. Counteract any arguement she has and if you know she is going to remind you of the past then paint her the truth about the past. If you hated it so much then it is time for her to know why. Don't give her any reason to play with you."

Naru stared at her pen and then at the male looming over her. He looked so calm and serious as he waited for her to write those words which would allow her to be set free. Was this what it was like to have a supportive male friend? None of her friends, except maybe for Shikamaru, would have said the things Reborn had. They would think she could handle it and wouldn't try to help her figure out her problems, thinking it was just too difficult of a task.

Reborn was telling her what to do and she doubt he would leave until she did what she said.

"Why are you helping me to this extent, Reborn? You know you could have said this while at Tsuna's house, right?" Naru asked as she began to write the letter.

"Isn't it obvious Naru? It's because I consider you my friend." He admitted, staring into her bright blue eyes.

 _Naru._

It should have registered in her mind that Reborn called her a friend but the only thing that registered in her head was the fact he called her by her first name. For the past couple of months, he had been calling her Uzumaki. Not once had the hitman called her by her given name and for some strange reason, Naru liked hearing him say her name.

Yup, it was official: she had finally became crazy.

* * *

 **A/N: Please tell me what you think about this chapter as well as the growing relationship between Naru and Reborn.**


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: I would like to thank everyone that reviewed the last chapter as well as everyone that added this story to their favourites and follows.

* * *

Naru pulled herself up to the ledge of the roof and took a seat on top of the roof top. It was lunch time now, which meant all her students were too busy playing around while the other teachers were busy planning their school test. Hibari was too busy patrolling for him to come demand a fight, which meant it had been the perfect time to practice her chakra control by climbing the walls of the school.

She pulled out a scroll from her pocket, nipped her finger and allowed blood to drip into the seal of her scroll, releasing the binoculars that she brought recently. Placing the binoculars on her eyes, Naru scanned the playground, watching the students smile and laugh with their friends. Were the children in her village this carefree? Were the children that seen the war able to keep smiling? She doubted it but the blonde couldn't help but hope this was the case.

It might be a long time before she go back home but Naru wanted the kids in her village to keep smiling.

Her smile faded when she noticed the pale look on Tsuna's face and how wobbly his body was. Had he been feeling sick earlier? Why hadn't he said anything to her? He did know she wouldn't mind if he went back home if he was sick right? She tilted her head and kept her eyes fixed on the dizzy boy. If he came to her class, looking this sick then there was no way she was going to keep him in class.

"What are you doing, Naru-san?"

Naru blinked her eyes and twisted her head to look at the source of the voice. She curled her lips when she saw it was just one of her messenger toads, who had already dropped her newest letter next to her. She must be really worried for her student if she didn't hear the toad appearing.

"Watching one of my students," Naru answered, pointing to the brown-haired boy, who was now talking to Reborn. "How was Sakura's reaction to my letter?"

"I didn't stick around to see it," the toad replied, giving her a pointed look. "I don't need to read your letter to know that you must have written something to make her angry because you wouldn't ask if it was something good. Why don't you just go back to the village? Everyone misses you."

"I'm not ready," Naru admitted. "Did you see Sasuke when you deliver the letter?"

"The bastard? Yup, he looked put out that you haven't sent a letter to him," the toad replied. "Which makes no sense since he put you through hell. He doesn't deserve to know what is going on in your life, not when he nearly killed you."

"You don't keep a filter do you? He has some right to know what is going on in my life…he's my friend," The toad just gave her a pointed look, which made the blonde sigh. She wasn't lying, Sasuke was her friend and he deserved to know what was going on in her life but she just didn't know what to write to him. Did she tell him about her journey? Because he didn't tell her anything.

He might be angry with her for not telling him that she left the country.

Naru curled her lips into a smile when she heard the sound of familiar footsteps coming towards her. She could see her summon looking at her in confusion, probably not knowing why she was smiling when the topic they were discussing wasn't a happy one.

"You have a talking pet now, Naru?"

"Kiyoshi is one of my summon and my friend, Reborn," Naru answered, turning her head to look at the hitman, who took a seat beside her. "He ain't a pet."

"But you aren't denying he can talk," Reborn said, flickering his eyes at the summoned toad, who now had his eyes fixed on her friend, and then to her. The toad flickered his eyes at her and then to the hitman before looking at her with confusion. Right. She hadn't told any of the toads about her strange friendship with Reborn or that he knew she was a ninja.

"This toad can speak for himself," Kiyoshi said, drawing Reborn's eyes fixed on him. "Who is the rude bastard, Naru?"

"I'm Naru's _friend_ ," Reborn said, saying it with a tone that the blonde knew implied they were more then friends. Kiyoshi looked at her with accusation, causing the blonde to shake her head and lightly punched the hitman on the shoulder, causing him to wince. "What was that for, Naru? I'm not lying am I."

"The way you said makes it seem like we're sleeping together and we are not," Naru stated, rolling her eyes at the hitman. "He's one of my friends, Kiyoshi."

"Just a friend? You're not sleeping with him, are you? Because if you are then Gamakichi is going to need to approve of this guy," Kiyoshi said, narrowing his eyes at the hitman. "He looks like a player, Naru."

"That is because he is one, Kiyoshi," Naru answered, earning a snort from her friend.

"That hurts my feelings."

"For it to hurt your feelings means you actually give a damn about my opinion and we both know that it isn't the case," Naru retorted, earning a shrug from the said man. The blonde didn't notice how the toad had a thoughtful look in his eyes because if she did then she would destroy any conclusion Kiyoshi was forming. "Anyways, what is wrong with Tsuna? He didn't look sick during homeroom."

"He's experiencing the side effect from being shot 10 times in the head with the dying-will-bullet," Reborn answered casually and the blonde hated how he was talking about her student's well being like they were talking about the weather.

"What side effect? And is it dangerous?"

"It has the potential of killing him if that is what you are wondering about," he admitted, curling his lips into a smirk when the blonde curled her lips into a fist. "Though not in the way that you're thinking in."

"How the hell can you be calm when talking about Tsuna dying? Don't you give a damn about the fact he might be dying?" Naru yelled, standing up from her spot on the roof. "Why isn't he going to the hospital? And why the hell didn't you tell me about this? I'm his teacher and I deserve to know these things."

"The hospital wouldn't be able to cure his disease," Reborn said, pulling her down to her seat. "And I'm calm because I expected this to happen so I called a friend to cure it. Of course, Tsuna doesn't know that…and you won't tell him about it."

"Tell me you didn't tell him that it was an incurable disease."

"I didn't tell him it was an incurable disease."

"You're an ass, you know that? What the hell were you thinking when you told him this? You, of all people, should know just how much he panics! Is it that funny for you to see him to be scared?" Naru yelled, clenching her hands into a fist.

Reborn opened his mouth to answer her but the blonde just whacked him in the head before rushing off to find her sick student. Seriously, why the hell was she friends with an asshole like this? When she was just thinking he was a good guy, the asshole did something to prove her wrong. How the hell could he think it was ok to tell a fourteen-year-old boy that he was dying and not tell him that he called in some help?

One of these days, she was going to get the hitman's head checked.

"If you want to date Naru then you shouldn't say something like that."

And she might also need to make it clear to the toad that they weren't together.

* * *

"Uzumaki-sensei, w-what are you doing here?"

Tsuna couldn't stop himself from asking this question when he saw his Math teacher standing in front of his house with an unhappy face. Was she angry he skipped class? But his sensei wouldn't have come during the school hour, she would have come after school. Was she here to see Reborn? Tsuna wasn't going to lie if he said he didn't understand the strange friendship his tutor and teacher had.

"Reborn told me everything."

Shit, she knew about the sickness. Did she know just how bad this sickness was? Well, she wasn't here when Reborn discovered he only tried his best in Math test because he really liked how Uzuamki-sensei would give him a smile and how she made him feel special. The black-eyed tutor hadn't really looked amused to hear this, in fact, Tsuna would dare say that the hitman looked tempted to hurt him even more.

" _I skip school on the days when I'm suppose to get shots!"_

God damnit, not that secret!

"Did that skull just speak?" Uzumaki-sensei said, blinking her eyes.

He opened his mouth to deny it but before the words could form from his mouth, his sensei grabbed hold of his hand and stared at the skulls decorating his arm. He wanted to tell her that it was a temporary tattoo but Tsuna knew his teacher well. She didn't believe Reborn when he lied so how would she believe him if he lied? His sensei always seemed to know when he was lying.

"It tells all my secrets and my shame or that is what Reborn tells me," Tsuna admitted reluctantly.

"Well it is embarrassing but it isn't a secret," Uzumaki-sensei stated, giving him a smile. "I figure out that secret when I notice your attendance has three basic patterns. It isn't the worse secret to have."

" _I never got a 100 on my test."_

"Me too," Uzumaki-sensei informed him, giving him a knowing look. "It isn't embarrassing…it's normal. I was a terrible student when I was in school, in fact the lowest grade I got had been 20 percent. I don't think it is shameful and it isn't a secret."

"Uzumaki-sensei, I really don't want to die with all my secrets being exposed," Tsuna said, gesturing for his teacher to come inside. He turned his body to look at his teacher, who had a smile on her face that told him she thought it wasn't the worse way for him to die. In fact looking at Uzumaki-sensei closely, he could see some sadness in her eyes but he didn't know if she was sad about the messed up situation he was in.

"I thought you wouldn't want to die before you confess to Sasagawa-chan again," Uzumaki-sensei admitted, picking up one of his baby photos. She put down the photo and smiled brightly but Tsuna knew from experience now that wasn't her real smile. It wasn't that warm and subtle happy smile she always gave him and occasionally gave Reborn. No, this was the smile she gave to the new science teacher who was always pushing himself onto her. "I think I wouldn't want to die before confessing my love to someone…life is short. I would want them to know that I loved them."

"But what if they don't accept it? What if it hurts? I don't think I can handle it."

His blond-haired teacher's smile faded and there was a dazed off look in her eyes. What was she remembering? Tsuna asked himself as he put his fingers into his ears, hoping to ignore the skull's next words. It must be something sad or maybe even painful because the presence around his teacher felt heavy. He slid his fingers off his ear when she opened her mouth again.

"Then you cry and force yourself to move on," the blue-eyed woman answered, ruffling his hair. "You remind yourself that you have a life outside of them. You will remember you have a loving family and you will tell yourself that at least you know. It is better to know then never to know."

"Was there someone that you like, Uzumaki-sensei?"

"I liked someone but I don't know if I truly loved them or whether I loved what they represent," Tsuna furrowed his eyebrows, earning a smile from his teacher. "Love is very messy Tsuna and it gets even more messy when you get older. There is someone that I loved but till now I don't know if it is love or if it is me thinking that is what love is."

"What do you mean?"

"Love should not be one person giving everything," his teacher explained. "It shouldn't make you cry from the pain or question everything about yourself. Love isn't hurting someone you love. You should long to see that person…and I haven't long for him in a long time. Maybe I deluded myself in thinking that I loved him because he recognized me."

"There must be more to that, Uzumaki-sensei!"

"He made me want to be a stronger person," Tsuna blinked his eyes and his teacher smiled. "He can be protective but hide it so well that you always have to read his actions. He wasn't the best person when it came to cheering people up or telling them how he feels. It's hard for him but it is obvious at times. You just have to read the signs."

"Wouldn't it be easier if he just tell you how he feels?"

Uzumaki-sensei smiled. "It would be but showing emotions is very hard for that man. He is scared to show he cares because most of the time, he ended up hurting. He thought if he didn't get close to anyone then he won't ever get hurt but it also means you have to figure out what he feels. Out of everyone in my home, I was probably the only one who could read him properly, which annoyed him because he knew damn well that I don't believe his bullshit."

Tsuna didn't miss the fondness in her voice or the lingering sadness in her eyes when she spoke of the man that she thought she was in love with. For a brief moment, he wondered how Reborn felt about this. His tutor from hell cared for his teacher, anyone with eyes could see how much the hitman cared for the blond-haired woman. God damn it, Reborn spent most of his time with her when he wasn't torturing him.

His tutor had to have some sort of feeling for his maths teacher because why else would he spend so much time with her.

"Uzumak-sensei, would it be easy to move on?"

His blond-haired teacher stared deeply into his eyes, licked her lips and shook her head. "I will be lying if I tell you that it will be easy to move on from someone you really cared about. Even though Sasuke and me never had that kind of relationship, it was hard for me to think about anyone else but him. I spent most of my teenage years loving him that when I came to acknowledge just how unhealthy it was, I didn't know how to connect with other men in that sense. Maybe if I had told him my real feelings and heard him reject me then I would be able to properly move on."

Would that happen to him too? If he never tell Kyoko-chan about his feelings then would he end up being like his teacher? No, he probably was going to be worse because his teacher was a strong woman. She was the only woman he knew that wasn't afraid to punch Reborn in the face for hurting him.

"I see you came back to see your student who you scared to death!"

Tsuna blinked his eyes and stared at his teacher, who had narrowed her blue eyes at Reborn, who stood there casually against the door. Reborn had guts, he thought to himself as he felt the temperature in the room drop with each second Uzumaki-sensei glared at his tutor. Only that man wouldn't be terrified of his teacher glaring at him. Every male teacher he had always flinched when the blond-haired woman glared at them.

"I told you that everything will be fine," Reborn said, tilting his hat downwards. "I called in a friend to help fix this small problem of Tsuna."

Tsuna blinked dumbly at him.

"Wait, you did? There is no trick to this!" Tsuna exclaimed, staring at Uzumaki and then to Reborn, who looked at him like he was an idiot. "Don't look at me like that! You're not nice enough to call in a friend to help me."

"He was planning to make you squeal and beg him to call that friend of his," Uzumaki-sensei replied, thinning her lips at Reborn. "You see Tsuna, Reborn knew this was going to happen and instead of preventing it from happening, he allowed you to get sick."

Tsuna swirled his head to look at the man, who just shrugged his shoulder. Why did he even think Reborn had a shread of decency? He opened his mouth to yell at Reborn but slowly closed it when he noticed the subtle wince in his tutor's eyes as he attempted to lower his shoulder. Did Uzumaki-sensei hit him? Yes, she did. Not only this but he didn't miss the way subtle pain in his tutor's eyes as he gazed at the blond-haired woman's scowl.

"Guh!"

Well, there goes any chance for Tsuna to figure out why Reborn was in pain.

Gulping, Tsuna twisted his body around to look at the staircase, where he could see a man tumbling down the staircase with his face covered with one of Bianchi's poison cooking. What the hell was happening here? How did this weirdo get into his house? He turned his attention to the pink-haired woman coming down the staircase with an annoyed look on her pretty face.

"It's been a while since I actually did some good with my poision cooking," Bianchi declared, keeping her eyes fixed on the fallen man. The pink-haired woman blinked her eyes when she caught sight of Uzumak-sensei standing there with her arms crossed and looked visibly pained to see Reborn beside the woman. "What brings you here, Naru? Is my little brother causing you trouble?"

"Your brother is being his usual self…so no," Uzumaki-sensei declared, shrugging her shoulder. "Reborn was being his usual asshole self and decided to make Tsuna panic about dying, so me being his loving teacher decided to comfort him. Mind telling me what that man did to deserve that?"

"He's a pervert that tried to grope me. I decided to defend myself."

Uzumaki-sensei thinned her lips and stared at the fallen man with a mixture of pity and amusement. "Ah, I see why you would do that but a piece of advice, if you want him to stop then threatened the one thing that makes him a man. You would probably be advised to break his ribs, spleen and maybe a few other body parts so that he would reconsider perving."

Wasn't it a bit worrying how his maths teacher was saying this with a straight face?

"Uzumaki-sensei! Don't give her anymore ideas on how to kill the man!"

"Bianchi would have figure out how to kill the man even if I didn't tell her," Uzumaki-sensei pointed out, shrugging her shoulder. "I'm just speeding up the process…besides Bianchi knows as well as I do that there are several organs to target when killing someone."

"I do but I have forgotten to consider the spleen," Bianchi admitted, curling her lips into a scowl. "I will probably use your idea if that pervert tries anymore moves."

Before Tsuna could even blink his eyes or even say something, the man, who had fallen from the staircase, was already up and near Uzumaki-sensei.

"And aren't you beautiful?"

"If you even think of coming near me then I promise you that I will make sure you will never feel proud of being a man," Uzumaki-sensei hissed, catching the man's arm before he even attempted to touch her. She twisted the arm around and Tsuna swear to god that he heard the bones cracked. He glanced at Reborn, who gave the man a look of both pity and amusement.

"Who is he?"

"The doctor that I called in," Reborn answered, keeping his facial expression blank as the man cried out in pain. "His name is Dr. Shamal!"

"You called in a pervert!"

"He's the only one that can fix Tsuna's problem."

Uzumaki-sensei groaned out loud, rubbed her forehead and glared at both the doctor and Reborn. Why him? This man had barely been here for a few minutes and already he was causing problems in this house. Wasn't there anyone else? His teacher must have the same thoughts because she was muttering under her breath about calling a friend to fix this mess would have been better.

"I forgot that was the reason why I was called over," Dr. Shamal said, wincing in pain. He glanced at Uzumaki-sensei, who thinned her lips at him, and then looked at him. "Sorry about that but I seem to be oblivious of my surroundings at times."

"He almost reminds me of Jiraya-sensei," Uzumaki-sensei muttered, shaking her head. "Hell Jiraya-sensei nearly got himself in trouble because of woman."

Tsuna opened his mouth to ask who this Jiraya-sensei was, only to closed it when he felt a pair of hands on his chest. He blinked dumbly at the man, who shook his head and held his hands up. What was that supposed to mean? Did this mean he couldn't help him? No, he was too young to die. This was suppose to be a joke right? Yes, it was a joke because he was just too young to die.

"Sorry but I don't examine guys."

"I forgot about that," Reborn said, looking everywhere but at him and Uzumaki-sensei.

"You're not going to treat my student because he's a boy…is that what you are saying?" Uzumaki-sensei said calmly though her eyes spoke a different story about what the woman was feeling. Tsuna gulped when he saw the absolute fury in the woman's eyes. He was so glad that he was not on the receiving end of that glare. "Are you or are you not a doctor? Do you not have a duty to save every life out there! Do not tell me that you are going to not treat my student just because he isn't a girl!"

"Calm down, pretty lady…"

"Pretty lady my ass! You are going to heal that boy _**or else I'm going to break every single bone in your body**_!" She yelled, pulling the man up to the ceiling and Tsuna couldn't help but feel as if there is something sinister in the air. "You will heal Tsuna or else I'll tear your balls out. Not going to treat him because he's a boy is inexcusable! Now fix him or I will fix you."

"Aren't you being a bit…"

"Shamal, Naru is very serious when it comes to her threat," Reborn said, drawing everyone's attention to him. He pointed to his shoulder and then to his cheeks. "If she threatened to make you less then a man then she will go through with it so unless you want to keep your balls, you will do as she suggest. I learnt that the hard way."

"I'm still not done with grilling you for being an ass to Tsuna!" Uzumaki-sensei snarled; her hair was beginning to split up and Tsuna knew that the two men were in so much trouble once he was healed. "Once he is healed, I'm going to teach the both of you a lesson on being good people to teens!"

Tsuna was truly glad that he wasn't the receiving end of her anger.

* * *

"Where the hell did you meet that spitfire?" Shamal asked Reborn as he rubbed his broken jaw. Was that woman human? Because god damn it, that punch felt a hundred times worse than any punch he received, which was saying something. He would have folded his arms but that blond-haired woman twisted his arm so badly that it would take weeks for it to heal. "If I hadn't healed that boy then I think she would actually murder me! Is she even a civilian?"

"She's Tsuna's Math teacher and no she isn't a civilian," Reborn answered, rubbing his own bruised cheeks. Shamal would have felt sorry for the man if it weren't for the fact that he was the reason why he got so badly injured. If he had known that spitfire was worse then Bianchi and all the woman he knew combined, he would have done his job properly. That woman hadn't been kidding when she threatened his jewels. "She is a ninja."

A ninja? Why was he even surprise? Only Reborn would get himself involved with a dangerous woman like that, though Shamal couldn't blame him. If she was spitfire in real life then he couldn't imagine what she would be like in bed. She might be flexible because he could totally see her being flexible especially with a body like hers.

"We're not sleeping together."

"I wasn't jumping to conclusion," Shamal lied as he wrapped bandages around his unbroken arm. "Though if you are then is she…"

"Naru and me have never slept together, we're friends."

Reborn friends with a woman as pretty as Naru? He must be dreaming because Reborn wasn't that kind of man. There was no way that man would deny himself of that woman. Her temper might be bad but if Shamal was honest with himself, he would admit that they deserve it. Still, she was gorgeous especially when she was angry like that. Hell, she even punched Reborn which was saying something since no one ever did that before.

"You can't expect me to believe that? She is a beautiful young woman and you never turned them down before."

"I respect her too much to do that to her," Reborn explained, wincing as he took the bandages from Shamal's hands. "She might be beautiful but she doesn't have much experience with men. In fact, she is the type of woman that you rather hold on to forever then discard after a few years of fooling around. She is loving and very caring but she holds a lot of baggage. If someone wants to be with her then they need to handle the baggage."

That had never stopped Reborn before so why was this woman different? Shamal knew Reborn since Shamal, himself, was a kid and not once had he ever seen the man been this thoughtful to a woman before. His friend treated his girlfriends and lovers with respect and kindness but he was never this thoughtful. What made this woman different? Was it because she didn't take his shit? Because Shamal respected her for that.

"Bianchi had baggage and yet you still dated her," Shamal pointed out. "What makes this one different?"

"Because she knows that I've no feelings for her and she has no feelings for me," Reborn answered, shrugging his shoulder. "I've a lot of respect and it is my respect for her that makes me not want to dishonour her. She deserves better than to have a one night stand or to have a relationship that isn't going anywhere."

If this was Reborn without any feelings to the woman then Shamal dreaded to think what the man would become when he get closer to the woman. He wasn't a romantic man but even he could detect that this woman was going to be different for his friend. His friend sounded like he cared about the woman's feelings, which was saying something. The fact that he wasn't even trying to change the woman's mind spoke volumes about how much he cared for her.

This one was going to be the one that turned Reborn's head around.

"You're going to be head over heels with this one."

"Shamal…"

"You're not in love with her and you already make her sound like she is a saint," Shamal said, ignoring the warning look from the number one hitman. "And the fact you said those words meant you actually gave some thought to it. You know what she deserves and you know you aren't able to provide it to her."

"If you don't shut up in the next five minutes, I'll make what Naru did to you seem small to what I will do to you."

Shamal was having too much fun with this piece of information to care that the man was threatening his life.

"You know if you want her then you better make her see you aren't that bad," Shamal said, ducking at the bullet that Reborn shot at him. "Because you know as well as I do that a woman like Uzumaki will not stay single for long, not with her personality or with her looks."

"And why should I care?"

"Because you're falling for that woman whether you want to admit it or not."

And with those words, he rushed out of the house before Reborn could shoot another bullet at him.

* * *

Sakura thinned her lips as she read for the hundredth time through the piece of letter that Naru finally sent her. She didn't know whether to be angry with her friend for being this way or to be ashamed with herself for not considering her friend's feelings. This was probably the hundredth time her friend tried to explain her feelings to her but unlike the other times, her friend was reminding her of all the things she did for her.

"What are you reading?" Sasuke asked, taking a seat beside her.

"Naru sent me another letter and this time I actually think I took it too far," Sakura admitted to him, looking down at the letter with reservation. When did her friend spoke like that? Naru had never behaved this way to her but then again even she had her limits. Maybe bringing up the past was too much but she wanted things to go back to the way it was before. She wanted to have their bond back but her friend was right when she said that if she came back that she would ignore her for Sasuke.

She always did and it wasn't fair to Naru.

"Is she coming back?"

Sakura didn't miss the barely noticeable hope in Sasuke's voice and she hated that. She shouldn't hate it because he was with her, not Naru but she wasn't a complete idiot when it came to him. Despite what many people thought, she knew her boyfriend had feelings for their blond-haired teammate. Sasuke cared for her, she knew that but Sakura knew that she would never compare to Naru.

Even before they were put into a team, Sasuke had some sort of feelings for Naru and maybe that was why Sakura hated the girl in the beginning. Without doing anything, the girl accomplished something that even she still struggle with, which was her boyfriend being smitten with her.

"Naru won't be coming back," Sakura answered softly, putting the letter down. "She has a lot of responsibilities…apparently, she adopted a little boy. She said that the little boy had no one and that she couldn't abandon him."

"She could bring him here."

Sakura felt her lips twitched, remembering that was the first thought that came to her mind. Their teammate could bring her adopted son here but she could read between the lines. Naru didn't want the boy to become a shinobi, not when he had a chance of growing in a place that was peaceful. She felt her smile fade as she remembered about the man that Naru both complained about but admired about.

She didn't know much about this Reborn guy but he was obviously someone that their teammate really cared about.

"She could but it wouldn't make her happy," Sakura said softly, thinking about all of her past actions that Naru brought up. At first, she had been so angry and hurt for her teammate doing this to her but after a few hours of calming down, she realized this was what she had been doing to the blonde. If she was allowed to be happy then her teammate deserved more then anything to be happy. "Konoha isn't going to make her happy anymore. She has a son that she loves and there might be a man in her life."

Sasuke stiffened at her words and Sakura wished she didn't notice this yet, she didn't want her boyfriend to think that Naru would always wait for him. Unlike her, their blond-haired teammate was a lot stronger then people gave her credit. She would be able to move on from heartbreak. She was also the type of woman that could get most people to fall in love with her.

It wouldn't surprise her if she found someone soon.

"Hn."

Even though it had been months since they started dating, Sakura still struggled to understand Sasuke's grunts but this one was surprisingly easy for her to understand. He wanted to know who that man was. He wanted to know who was the man that was probably already taking his place in Naru's heart and maybe if she was a bit less selfish, she would tell him but Sakura wasn't that selfless.

She wanted Sasuke to be hers but at the same time, she wanted him to be with someone that actually makes him happy. One day, she hoped she could make him happy and that she could make him realize that she was the healthier option. If Sasuke and Naru were to have a relationship that it wouldn't be the healthiest of relationships because Naru would always be giving while that man would never think of giving anything in return.

Because even Sakura would admit that Naru deserved to have someone that treated her like she was a princess and tell her how much they cared for them. Her friend needed to be in a relationship where the man would fulfil the affection Naru was so starved of and the pink-haired girl knew her boyfriend would never be that man for their blond-haired teammate.

"What is he like?"

"From what I can infer, he sounds a bit like Kakashi-sensei…"

"Hn."

Sakura hoped one day that Sasuke could see that a relationship with Naru wouldn't be healthy and that Naru deserved better than him.

If anyone deserved to be happy then it had to their teammate.

* * *

A/N: Please review and tell me what you think about this chapter.


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